Viola Mahr

~ THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!!! ~

Dear Ladies,

I am pleased (I guess...) to share the news that I've made the decision to move from Typepad to Blogger.

From this day forward, read new posts and browse the archives at: 

www.violamahr.blogspot.com

I will be doing a post up there in a moment, so scoot over and read!
(And I was able to transfer all past posts, including images and comments, to the new blog with little difficulty. YAY!) If you wish  to subscribe over at blogger, you can do so using the email subscription form or google reader. Sadly, I was unable to figure out a way to transfer all my current email subscribers over... so the job is yours if you would like to continue keeping up with my stuff and nonsense.

This old blog will remain with the horrid design that typepad has bequeathed to me and serve as an archive base so that all links to this blog will stay unbroken. If you have a link to me, do update those and continue to subscribe as I will be posting as time allows and sharing more handmade crafts with you.

Finally -- a big, big thank you to all my readers and those who have shared this fun crafting journey with me. Here's to more craftiness in the very near future!

Thank you for stopping by.

See you at blogger!
~ Vi

what's been happening around here

I just can't decide if I deserve to have a blog or not. Why do I keep one when I never post?

I make cards sometimes.. (sometime being in the past).

I leave cute things on my desk so they can get all dusty and make me sneeze..
(thank you Melissa for this pretty little gift. It's been sitting on my workspace since the day it came in the mail!) :)

I make more cards, and when someone wants to take one, they are supposed to put a cookie in it's place as payment (but they never do).

I never pack my stamps away. When I need one in particular, I rumble through the entire pile 'til I find what I need...

I have so many random, odd bits of funny things on the shelf above my desk. What is a pot doing in a basket, and that scrap piece of lace tied around the middle?! (my brain needs re-wiring).

On a more jolly note, I am busy with working life, continued music lessons and practice, and designing projects. 

I am feeling especially happy with how Karen's blog banner turned out, so let me share it with you.

Thanks so much for letting me work with you on your blog, Karen.

Hugs to you, my friends.
May your weekend be filled with good things like pizza and ice cream.

And no prizes for guessing when I will be back to regular posting... :)

~V

Nina.B.Designs blog hop #3 ~ die-cutting non-paper products

* Due to technical issues my post did not go live on time as scheduled; I sincerely apologize! It is up now (obviously) =) *

Welcome to another NinaB Designs blog hop. The NBD team and I have something exciting for you today. The challenge was for us to make something that uses the NinaB Designs Spellbinders die cuts from non-paper products on ourprojects. Did you know that Spellbinders dies can cut all kinds of material? Kim Hupke, the Educational Director of Spellbinders Paper Arts did a video showing all types of products you can cut with the dies that you can find HERE. For my project today, I die cut corrugated cardboard with NinaB Designs' Home Sweet Home dies (heart die).

Something seriously weird is going on with these pictures but ignore them will you?
For the corrugated hearts, I dusted the edges with some white ink and added gargantuan pearls to the centers.

I wish I could say the leaves were cut with dies too, but sadly, they were not. Nina, will you design leaf dies next??! PLEASE!!!!! My thumbs would thank you.

The sentiment is from this lovely, lovely stamp set.

Flower is by Prima, and the patterned papers are some new ones I picked up at the local scrappy store this past week.

I added the border and freckle details with some fine-tipped markers. I find I'm starting to drift back to the paper-piecing, pen-and-ink, scissors-and-glue style that I started out with. Along the way I've dabbled in clean-and-simple, shabby-chic (rather heavily in this one, lol), and even more graphic art styles. But back I am to the way I started. It's where I feel truly comfortable, and I am happy with it. Here's to more explorations in the wild and wonderful world of paper crafting! :)

Here are the dies I used:

Home Sweet Home

Here are the prizes to be won.

The Craft's Meow's Cherished Stamp Set

The Craft's Meow's Giddy Up

Spelllbinders Aster Flower Topper dies

Spellbinders Bauble Blossoms One

Winners will be picked randomly from 5 of the designers' blogs:

Nina Brackett * Beatriz Jennings * Clare Buswell * Heather Jensen * Jennie Harper * Julie Overby * Lea Lawson * Linda Lucas * Mona Pendleton * Viola Mahr

Everybody is welcome to comment and be eligible to win. Nina will announce the winners on May 22 right here on her blog. Due to the number of prizes being given away on Nina's blog and her dependence on her mom to do the shipping, we have to ask that the winners email (via Contact tab) her with their info within 4 days (till May 26) in order to claim the prize. This will help with organization and avoiding confusion. Thanks for understanding! Finally, please consider liking the following Facebook pages that are represented on today's hop, so you don't miss the latest news and happenings:

NinaB Designs

Spellbinders Paper Arts

The Craft's Meow

Want2Scrap

I hope we've inspired you all today! Happy hopping!

Nina.B.Designs Blog-Hop #2 ~ and a Challenge

Welcome to the NinaB Designs's 2nd blog hop! We had a great time last month and we just want to thank you for your enthusiasm and encouraging words. The NBD team has new projects to show you today featuring NinaB Designs Spellbinders™ Paper Arts (Home Sweet Home and Sewing Elements), The Craft's Meow Stamps, and Want2Scrap bling. We have added a new twist to our hop. Not only do we have tons of inspiration for you, but we also are joining in the Crafty Friends' challenge that you can participate in. And of course, there will be prizes up for grabs! You will find more info below.

For my project, I used Spellbinders™ Sewing Elements for the scissor die-cut, Want2Scrap Classy Corners rhinestone embellishments, and The Craft's Meow Sew Lovely stamp set.

I die-cut two of the cute little scissors: one in cream and one in kraft, then cut the kraft one in half and layered it over the cream piece. A little rhinestone embellishment finishes off the scissor joint.

The rhinestone swirl embellishment was originally part of a frame, but I cut it to fit, as the entire piece was a bit too heavy for the whole effect of the card. Also, I can save the rest of the frame for another card next time!

Sorry for the visual-details-overload...

THE CHALLENGE: If you choose to participate in the challenge, create a new project that uses two die cuts. They don't have to come from two different die cut sets. Then, link it to the Crafty Friends' challenge blog. One participant will win the Sewing Elements dies. You can enter as many as you want. THE RULES: Leave a comment on as many blog hop stops as possible. FOUR commenters left on the NinaB Designs team blogs will be picked to win prizes. One comment per blog please. This is open to our international friends. Here are the links to the NBD team:

NinaB Designs * Beate Johns * Beatriz Jennings * Clare Buswell * Heather Jensen * Jennie Harper * Lea Lawson * Linda Lucas * Mona Pendleton * Viola Mahr (you are here) * Crafty Friends' Challenge Blog

THE PRIZES: There are several prizes to be won. One Crafty Friends' challenge blog participant will be randomly picked to get the Spellbinders' Sewing Elements dies

Four commenters left on the NinaB Designs team blogs will be picked to receive the following:

 Spellbinders Home Sweet Home

The Craft's Meow's Thanks Bee to Thee stamp set

The Craft's Meow's Lovely Birds set

Finally, please consider liking the following Facebook pages that are represented on today's hop:

NinaB Designs

Spellbinders Paper Arts

The Craft's Meow

Want2Scrap

We hope you enjoy the projects we're sharing with you today and enter the Crafty Friends challenge as well!

Thank you for visiting.

~Vi

paper piecing ~ Nina.B.Designs

This fun card was created with stamps and dies designed by Nina Brackett........... she is super talented and super sweet! 

The leafy stems were stamped with Happiness Is... and for dimension, I stamped a few extra stems, trimmed out the leaves, and adhered them with foam dots.

By the way, I know my stamping is not perfect. I can almost never achieve perfectly crisp images. Somehow they invariably end up with lighter patches or something wrong... =(
However, I am always inspired by artists who can do perfect stamping, and I will keep practicing and improving (and maybe invest in better inks). One day I will be a real stamper!
For now, I like to comfort myself with the idea that the imperfect stamping somehow lends a nice, soft effect to the final product ;)

PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU AGREE.

The lovely sentiment is also from the Happiness Is... stamp set.

And the cute, cute little hearts were die-cut from Nina Brackett's Home Sweet Home by Spellbinders™ ... these come with the tiny eyes punched out after die-cutting, so it was super easy to thread it on a length of thin twine.

The other bits on the card are patterned paper by K & Co as well as MME, a couple of cute blossoms by Prima, and some pretty trim.

Hope your weekend is a verrrah good one ;)

hugs,
~Vi 

 

 

more projects ~ Nina B. Designs die-cuts

These three cards were embellished with die-cuts created with Nina B Designs' Spellbinders™ Home Sweet Home dies. 

this one uses the two pieces of the house-shaped dies. Super cute and very fun to add details to! The roof was made from kraft cardstock, and the lower half was cut from Crafty Secrets' Love Mail creative scraps. The rhinestone heart is from Want2Scrap. Pom-pom and lace trim from my stash. the stamped background was created with The Craft's Meow Sew Lovely stamp set.

and this one, with the heart-shaped dies. after cutting some text-patterned paper with the die, I distressed the edges and kind of "folded" it to create texture in the middle... makes the flower more 3-D. the rose is by Prima. the beautiful, large leaves are from The Craft's Meow Happiness is... stamp set.

on the right-hand edge of this third card is the wings from the Home Sweet Home. I cut it from kraft paper, and lightly brushed the embossed area with white ink. It doesn't really look like a wing here, but... nevermind. HA!

the fluffy flower is also by Prima. 

a closer look at the little house. the more I stare at it, the worse it looks. next time i'll go for a more conventional "house" look =)

the sentiment stamp combination on all three cards is from one of my favorite sets, Kind Deeds by Clear and Simple Stamps.

(hope I covered all the details...)

three cards, one die-cut set ... lots of possibilities. Hope you can grab yourself a little bit of Spellbinders™ ~ Nina-B-Designs' magic!! 

enjoy your weekend.

xoxo Vio

 

 

 

wedding weekend - March 10, 2012

Hi! I'm creating a few more projects to share and doing some blog designing, but in between i decided to post a couple of (un-professional) photos from my sister's wedding two weekends back.

I know, I had a sister married last december, but this is a different one =)

disclaimer: some of these photos have this weird color going on, but i think it's cause i messed with them in photoshop. i decided to post them anyway :-/

This one is a peek at one of the photo/testimony collage boards I created with the help of some dear friends!

The kneeling bench (in the church sanctuary) with fresh roses and satin and organza:

Details, details.... (my amazing mother handmade my sister's bridal gown, including the intricate chinese buttons and beading here on the sleeve)

Wedding bands: (i apologize I got carried away and took so many)

Watching from an upstair window as her groom arrives =)
(for some reason I only have this photo in b+w and it's kind of grainy because of the indoor lighting.............. oh well aarrrgghhh)

the reception was held in the outdoor gardens of our church, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! the reception-caterer did a wonderful job with the food and decorations.

my sisters and our friends made a wonderful spread of homemade desserts and tasty morsels (like they did back in december). 

mini sugar donuts, mexican wedding cookies, banana cupcakes, chocolate chunk cookies, cream-cheese topped fruit jelly, mocha crinkles, mini cinnamon rolls, pineapple tarts, cream-cheese and carrot cupcakes, white chocolate pretzels, dark chocolate cupcakes, cornflake cookies, ummmm.......... (trying to remember if I forgot anything) oh DURIAN cupcakes. I wonder if any of my readers have ever tried the amazing fruit called durian (google it!) ... The bride and groom are big durian-fans, so we had to have some durian cupcakes for the reception =)

i made that cake up there.
it was a black-forest cake, and if I'm not wrong, it tasted pretty..... nice........ =)
(my frosting technique is less than perfect, though)

I think this is a better photo of it even though it shows mostly the flowers.

yours truly signing the guestbook - I'm not really that short... i was just kneeling down to get on eye-level with the table =) (someone secretly took my camera and snapped this pic)

... and they lived happily ever after!!!

the end. 

*happy memories* ... thanks for sharing them with me.

 

~Vio

 

 

Nina.B.Designs ~ Dream Team Blog Hop

**Winner is MICHELLE! More info on Nina's blog HERE. Thanks everyone who joined in the hop!**

Welcome to the first-ever Nina B Designs Dream Team Blog Hop!

I think I'm just about the only one on Nina's brand new Dream Team that didn't get a post in on the day of the announcement (just like me, yes). But today is the day of the grand blog hop and I can't wait to show my project to you.

This card features the Nina B Designs' Spellbinders™ Paper Arts Home Sweet Home set, as well as The Craft's Meow Stamps Sew Lovely set (I LOVE ME MY CRAFT'S MEOW STAMPS!). Here is my project:

I used Spellbinders Home Sweet Home die set to cut the wings and heart out from patterned paper, did some simple distressing and layered it with foam dots. The wings have a lovely embossed detail on it that doesn't show up on my photo too well, but it's there!

The Craft's Meow Sew Lovely is a new set that was released after my term with the team was over, so it's new for me and I LOVE IT! Nina designed it too... she's awesome!!!!!!!!! I used the sentiment stamp and one of the cute button stamps (in olive green ink, behind the wings). 

I also used a mixture of Webster's Pages and BasicGrey patterned paper (mostly scraps from my scrap file), Prima pom-pom trim, Melissa Frances resin keyhole, and some random doilies, trimmings and beading lying on the scramble of my table.

That's my project for today (and I will create more and share soon!), but keep reading!

***GIVEAWAY IS OVER AND WINNER POSTED ABOVE AND ON NINA'S BLOG HERE. THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION! :) ***

There is a prize hidden in each of the designers' blogs in today's blog hop, so, you are *STRONGLY* encouraged to comment on each of them to be entered in all the drawings. Now the rules:

• The prizes are hidden in the blogs and winners will be drawn randomly.
• One comment per blog please ------> LEAVE A COMMENT HERE TO WIN! =)
• The giveaways are open to everybody in the world (which I love because I'm someone in the world but not in the US) =)
• The winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 21.
• This is not required, but if you have projects using NinaB Designs stamps, dies and/or bling (see tabs above), please upload it to the NinaB Designs Flickr gallery, so we can all see your beautiful work. And who knows, we may have a Flickr fan giveaway someday :).
• This is not required, but please consider liking the following Facebook pages: NinaB Designs, Spellbinders Paper Arts, The Craft's Meow and Want2Scrap. These companies provided some of the prizes today.

Here are the prizes that are being given away - 11 prizes and 11 stops in the hop:

Spellbinders Layered Flowers dies	Spellbinders Aster Flower Topper dies	Spellbinders Bauble Blossoms One	Spellbinders Bauble Blossoms Two dies
Spellbinders Classic Decorative Inserts One dies	TCM Timeless Tags set	TCM Sending You Sunshine set	TCM Lovely Birds set
TCM It's a Banner Day set	TCM Fruity For You stamps	Want2Scrap Borders and Corners

Thank you for joining in the excitement!

Now, go be inspired as you visit these talented ladies:

Beate Johns * Beatriz Jennings * Clare Buswell * Heather Jensen * Jennie Harper * Julie Overby *Lea Lawson * Linda Lucas * Mona Pendleton * Viola Mahr (you're here) * Nina Brackett 

(I love the graphic Nina created with all our photos, so I had to share it here) =)

I'm honored to be on such an amazing team of ladies!

Happy Hopping Thursday! =)

hugs,
Vio 

P.S. Thank you friends for all the pinterest invites after my last post =) 

Vanilla and Roses!

Hello! I have a card to share with you today, filled with Crafty Secret's goodies. I love the "Vanilla" and "Rose Oil" stamps that came in the Vintage Labels clear art stamp set. Also, I used patterned paper from Love Mail creative scraps and stamped the green border on the white strip using Antique Trims clear art stamp set.

 

Some other supplies are scrunchy ribbons, pom-pom trim, pearls, Crate brad and tag, satin fairy wing, and a tiny clock face memorabilia. I haven't been making cards for so long, it was like a treasure chest opening up my supply boxes :) ... maybe that will motivate me to get my crafting mojo up and running full-time again.

 

And now friends, let me depart and go to bed. I am on the verge of making a promise to be back again soon, but for now, I have no clue when I can post again. March 2012 is going to be busy for me..... another sister's wedding (YAY!) and music exams again. In addition to regular life going on. I hope you can pardon my absence for a bit! 

OH! I wanted to let you know that I decided to create some online albums where projects are easily referred to and all in one place ... so I created an FB account and slowly puddled around till i learned how to upload photos :-/ ... If you are interested in seeing all my projects for the different design teams I've worked with, without having to go through pages and pages of this blog, you can find the albums HERE. I don't care to use facebook, so it won't be for any other purpose than the photo albums, since many of you access FB daily and it will be easier for you all ... not to mention that I decided to jump on the pinterest bandwagon (finally!) and see what the fun is all about... and I needed an FB account for that. Do any of you have an extra pinterest invite for me? I requested one from Pinterest but never got it :(

Ok, it's TRULY bed time now. I WILL RETURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for dropping by.

~Vio

 

 

sending you smiles ~

Hello! It's been forever since I posted some craft-related thing on the blog. I just went to check my feedburner list and was astonished to see that there are 365 subscribers. Thank you to all of you and I hope my post today will make my long pause in blogging worth your wait. 

Some of you may have already read of the Design Team Changes @ The Craft's Meow. I'd been thinking on it for a while already as my other commitments made it hard for me to be a faithful DT member :) ... I missed out on the last few stamp releases and haven't even had the chance to break in some of my new sets! So I've stepped off The Craft's Meow design team and I want to thank Lisa, Nina, and the rest of the team for all their awesome-ness the past six months I've spent with the team! I love you all!

They are having a design team call open till February 11, 2011, so ... heads-up for anyone who's reading :) ...

So this is my "farewell" post for The Craft's Meow... I used this gorgeous new set called Sent with Love, and the leaf stamp is from Happiness is...

again, THANK YOU Lisa and Nina. These wonderful women had great faith in me when they invited me to join the team half a year ago :) I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed my term with you all and will treasure all the beautiful stamps you all have designed and shared with the crafting world. I'm sure the new design team members will make you all proud as well.

------------------------------------

And one more card for today, using Crafty Secret's Vintage Patterns CD (patterned background paper), Homemade images booklet, and Kitchen Classics stamp set. I love that mason jar image from the Homemade booklet!!!

Thanks for visiting, friends. I'm keeping terribly busy outside of the crafty-life, hence the lack of posting here. Also, blog designing on the sideline... a few new blogs I've done that you can check out: Explore.Dream.Discover @ Barb Schram (full blog makeover kind of still in the works!), Eva Inspiration (banner), and It's the Little Things (banner). 

Enjoy a crafty, art-sy, card-making kind of day!

~V