Nautical Knots & Seaside

I adored Clear & Simple Stamps for a while and got 3 sets - Seaside, Nautical Knots, and Scallops Borders recently. Here is the card I made after I played around with them.

I white-embossed the Nautical Knots on the white cardstock, and brushed blue and red Distress Ink pads with water brush to resist the image. The anchor was silver-embossed and cut out, then threaded by navy blue baker's twine. I used the Scallops Borders die to cut out the "waves" and attached on the bottom of the card. After assembled everything on the card, I brushed blue Distress Ink around the card to finish it. Below is a close view on the anchor.

And inside of the card - love this quote.

I am pretty satisfied with the quality of the stamps that Clear & Simple Stamps made. Except the stamps, I really love the way they packaged the stamps. Each stamp image is printed on the clear case. The cover sheet was printed beautifully and inserted in the front of the case. Here is the set of Seaside (I open the case and take the photo):

 

Souvenir

Forgot to mention the souvenir we bought at Yingge Ceramics Museum and here you go.

This is the ceramic coaster we bought in the gift shop of the Museum. The two shrimps look like Chinese painting. I love the blue color used on the coaster.

Here is another ceramic coaster we bought. This pattern looks like the Chinese paper-cut and the red color is just amazing. These coasters only cost about four US dollars each - very good price.

On the back of the coaster, it's the black felt with the artist's name. Hope you enjoy my sharing. 

Yingge Ceramics Museum

We visited the Yingge Ceramics Museum when we had vacation in Taiwan. The constructed of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum was first proposed in 1988 and opened to the public on November 26, 2000. In twelve years, it has become the leading county museum in Taiwan and the first professional museum wholly dedicated to ceramics. This is also our first time to visit this museum. 

There are a lot of amazing masterpieces in the museum. While we enjoyed to look at these beautiful art pieces, they also give me inspiration for future creation. Here are some of the pieces I love most:

The above sweater was made by ceramics! It looks so real and you can "feel" the softness. 

These vases are so beautiful and each one has its own color and characters. 

I guess this one must be difficult to make.

These pieces are so cute and lovely. 

This one is the first place winner.

This piece is very interesting.

Hope all of you enjoy these ceramic pieces.

Zentangle Learning

I learned Zentangle while I was on vacation in Taiwan this July. My teacher Laura is a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) and she is also a craft store owner in Taiwan. Below is my first Zentangle tile learned in the class.

There are a lot of "tangles" you can learn and draw. For me, each tangle just likes a puzzle, as long as you know the key to resolve the puzzle, then it will be easy to draw the tangle. When you draw these tangles, you will find concentration and peace in your mind. So, it's a very good practice to train your patience and concentration. When we drew these tangles, we used Sakura 01 black pen to draw. Since the nib is very thin, you need to be very careful to control your hand and not to ruin the nib. 

Here is another tile I drew after I come back to US. Love it!

My New Blog

After 3-minute thinking of my blog title, "My Craft World" just popped out and finalized immediate. Actually, I was getting into paper craft in the last ten years for scrapbooking, rubber stamping, and card marking. However, I believe paper craft shall not be the only "craft hobby" I will get into it in the near future (hint hint). So, "My Craft World" starts today. 

I like to try all kinds of styles on the card making, but "clean and simple" cards are always my all time favorites at the end. Just post this card "have fun" to celebrate my new blog today.

This card was made by one shell stamp I purchased at Michaels for just $1.50. I applied the simple masking technique to make this card and scratch the "have fun" rub-on on the card. Thanks for looking.