Today I want to share with you some small gifts I made for friends and coworkers.

I’m not great at buying personalized gifts for everyone for Christmas (I usually reserve that effort for birthdays) so every year I come up with something small I can give away. This year I got the idea of turning little coffee cups into tiny succulent planters.

I got some $1 coffee mugs from the dollar store and my SO helped me by drilling some drainage holes in the bottom. Then it was just a matter of repotting the mini succulents, which I got from a local plant nursery ($1.5 each pot). The most expensive part was buying a special drill bit for ceramic/glass, which was around $10, but it’ll be useful for other projects.

I repurposed some paper gifts bags I had laying around and customized them for the occasion with the same papers I used for my handmade cards, the Winter Cottage paper pack by Simple Stories. I also added a handmade ‘alfajor‘ made by a local baker I usually buy from for the holidays. Do you know the alfajor? They’re kind of a cookie sandwich with dulce de leche filling and covered with chocolate. It’s a very popular candy in Chile and Argentina.

And that’s it! Sorry for the crappy pictures today, I was rushed to deliver these on Christmas Eve with a full time job I couldn’t get my stuff out for a proper session with my dSLR. Anyway, you get the idea :)

I hope you’re having a lovely holiday season with your loved ones. Take care and see you on the next post~

Christmas is getting closer and closer but the days here just get hotter! 🔥 Today I have a new trio of handmade cards, some that are already on their way to friends on the other side of the world, yay! These are probably not my best cards or pictures as I made them while I was recovering from surgery to extract my impacted wisdom teeth. I removed both the lower ones on the same session and it was soooo bad. I wasn’t knocked out so I was fully awake for the whole experience, ugh. Do not recommend. At least that’s over and done!

Anyway, on to the cards!

I used mostly the same supplies as on my previous holiday cards, but here’s a quick recap of supplies:

• Patterned papers: Winter Cottage pack (6″ x 8″) by Simple Stories
• Rubberstamp: G5066 Three Owls by Hero Arts
• Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Black

For my first card I started with a base of red cardstock cut to 5,5″ x 4,25″ size and glued a piece 1″ smaller of patterned paper. Over that I put another layer of patterned paper with a punched scalloped edge and a piece of vellum that I stamped with white ink. I turned the three little owls into a sort of tag with a red eyelet and a piece of ribbon.

For this card I started with a base of beige cardstock and glued a piece of patterned paper 1/2″ smaller over. I added over another patterned paper with a scalloped edge. Did the same tag dealio with the Owls stamps but in a different color scheme.

And since I’ve done a few cards already I’ve ended up with some scraps, so in the last one I tried to use up as much scrap papers as I could while still maintaining the same theme/vibe.

I’ve really enjoyed making themed cards this season and think for my next project I’ll make a set of tags to include in gifts, probably using very much the same supplies as in the cards. So if you’re looking for more way to use up holiday patterned paper, stay tuned :)

Hello everyone! Did you start your holiday crafting? I usually never start this early and it’s been years since I last made Christmas cards, but I was inspired by the lovely projects my friend Laura has been sharing on her blog and on Instagram. So I pulled out some supplies, old and new, and got to it.

Today I have 3 little holiday cards to share with you, all made with more or less the same supplies. The patterned papers are from Simple Stories Winter Cottage paper pack. Since I would be doing small projects I got the 6″ x 8″ papers because the patterns would be smaller and more suited to the size I’d be working. I loved the prints and color scheme from these papers, the inclusion of pink and other pastel colors makes these so cute!

For the accents I used washi tapes from the Falala collection by Crate Paper, the “Merry Chistmas” tape came in specially useful as I don’t have sentiment rubber stamps.

The little owl fellas are the “Three Owls” rubberstamp by Hero Arts that I got ages ago and decided to keep when I purged most of my craft supplies before a move, because they’re just too darned cute.

The ribbons are from my stash of repurposed ribbon that I keep in a jar. I collect ribbons from packaging and other sources to reuse in my crafts and so fa it’s been a really good strategy. I’ve been able to collect a lot of ribbons and I can always find one to match my project.

And that’s it for today. I hope to be sharing more holiday themed projects with you soon. Do you start your holiday crafting way ahead of time or are you usually a last minute crafter?

Hello again! Today I bring another simple card. I made it as a belated-birthday card for a penpal but kept it sentiment-free so she has the opportunity to re-use the card if she wants. I sent this card a while back so I hope it’s already made its way to my friend and I’m not spoiling the surprise :)

I started with a base of 4 1/4″ x 11″ olive cardstock and folded it in half to get a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ base. Then I cut a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of patterned paper from the Basic Grey Konnichiwa paper pack and rounded the corners. I’m determined to use this paper pack up, I tell you!

Anyway, I added a strip of 1 1/2″ cream speckled cardstock and used the Fiskars Scallop Edge punch on one of the edges. I finished it off with a pink satin ribbon from my stash and a cute bunny puffy sticker from The Paper Studio.

It’s been fun shopping my stash and seeing what I can come up with.

In other news, the other day I wanted to make a project that featured mainly eyelets and brads and I couldn’t find my Crop a Dile. I turned the apartment upside down to no avail! I guess I must have misplaced it during a move OR I lent it to someone and totally forgot :o I had that Crop a Dile since… let me check my Gmail… 2008!! wow! Well, I was due for a new one I guess, lol. I’ll let you know when I get it :)

Stay safe and healthy, see you on the next post~!

I took a couple weeks from work but due to COVID restrictions traveling outside my city wasn’t really feasible, so I mostly used the free time to run errands and do some shopping. On one of those days I happened to go into a local art supply store (named Cartebella) that I hadn’t visited since my college years and was pleasantly surprised!

When I first got into painting and lettering I had to get most of my supplies from online resources because local art supply stores were really lacking. Then when my parents relocated to the capital I’d use the times when I visited them to go to the art supply shops there and stare in awe at the aisles of the -seemingly- infinity of supplies and brands. So when I walked into this local store after many years and I was greeted with supplies I’d previously only be able to get on those trips, I was ecstatic! (and a bit fearful of my wallet :).

I originally went in looking for black fineliners because mine had ran dry. They only had this “Anniversary Set” in stock but I happily took it home because these look a lot better than the regular version, in my opinion. While I was browsing I came across these brush pen by Lyra I hadn’t seen before so I got the primary tones assortment to try them out.

I also -finally- found the new Pilot Parallel pens! I have the original set and when these news ones were released I stalked the local Pilot’s social media for their announcement. I did ask on the social media channels of this particular art store but the said they didn’t have them. So I was extra surprised when I actually found hanging in a display rack!

I’m actually taking an online course in uncial calligraphy, so these pens will really come in handy for practices and hope to share the results from that class soon here.

I’ll finish up this post with some quick samples of the brush pens.

I really liked working with these though they were not what I was looking for. I want some brush pens with firmer finer tips for smaller line variation, like color version of the Zebra Disposable Brush Pen (Extra Fine) I’ve had for a few years. From reading online I think the Stabilo brush pen markers are what I’m looking for and will hunt those next. Bu these are great for headers and such, the colors are vibrant and I like when brush marker incorporate a round tip on the other end for details.

Until next time, stay safe and healthy~!

Have you ever caught yourself browsing Aliexpress while having a bit too much wine? This here is the testament that I have. I happened to be browsing Aliexpress for scrapbooking suppplies and then, bam, order placed. I did mean to order embellishment because I gave away my stash on one of my moves so I had no eyelets, brads or paper flowers, but in retrospective, I should have gotten neutral colors instead of these very colorful lot lol.

I placed my order from Lucia Craft Store, which offers a lot of scrapbooking and craft supplies for scrapbooking or cardmaking such as buttons, eyelets, ribbons, paper flowers, etc etc. I liked that they offered mixes of random assorted colors so that took away some of the decision from me.

I placed this order on May 31st and received the notification that it arrived to my PO Box on June 30th. To be fair, it took longer to get from Santiago to my city than it did from China to my country, but that is the state of our local post service. The order came in a plastic bubble mailer and the flowers packaged in a cute tiny plastic box, everything arrived in perfect condition, considering the long trip.

Here’s what I got:

I’m really happy with my order and would recommend this Aliexpress store if you’re looking for cheap scrapbooking embellishments. I look forward to sharing with you projects made with these supplies. Until then, stay safe and healthy~!

Hi! Today I want to share with you my first ever scrapbook page, which I made as an anniversary gift for my SO. We’ve been together since I was 17 and this year was my 34th birthday, so officially from this day I’ll have lived more of my life with him than without. I thought this was a special moment and needed to be specially remembered.

I dug out some old pictures, probably from 2009-2010, a couple from my Instax camera and one we took on a dSLR and I slightly retouched in Photoshop (mainly contrast, levels, white balance, that sort of thing).

I mostly used papers and elements from the -now ancient- Basic Grey Konnichiwa collection which I have been hoarding since forever. I love these asian inspired papers and thought they looked too pretty and perfect to be used but I’m trying to ge over that. Pretty paper deserved to be showed and shared with the world! that is now my motto not to hoard :)

I started with a 8,5″ x 11″ base with one of the Konnichiwa papers because that’s a standard size locally and it wouldn’t be hard to find a frame that’d fit, unlike 12″ x 12″ or 6″ x 6″. I got the frame from local home decor chain Casa&Ideas.

It’s very simple but i wanted to incorporate elements important to our relationship, like the bike themed washi tape (because we’re both cyclists) and a hedgehog sticker because our first pet was a pygmy hedgehog.

I’d share a materials list but most of the supplies I used have probably been discontinued. I want to use up what I still have from my past crafty days, but whenever I use something currently available I’ll share the details in case you want to look them up for yourself.

I really had fun working on this project and I think it was a great way to dip my toes into this hobby. I’ve been aiming at giving more meaningful gifts on certain special occasions because I think these are more valuable and will always bring a smile when we look at the pictures. I’m not very good at taking pictures of myself, but I’m trying to improve that.

I love looking back at old pictures and remember those moments, specially during this past year when we were locked up most part of the year and I didn’t see family or friends for several months.

Do you scrappbook? Why did you start? I’d love to read your stories to inspire me to keep up. Until the next project, stay safe and healthy~!