Summer Fun

Summer is coming to an end. What have you been doing?

Last Friday, we went to PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) to see Johnny and the Sprites.

Great weather. Great companions (my sis and her 6 mos daughter as well of her friend and her 7 mos daughter).

Adore By Nat Facebook Fan Page

Are you a fan of my cards and tags? *blushing*

If yes, then you should join my FB fan page. I'll be posting updates, discount code and freebies there.

And as my grateful gesture for having you being my fans, I'm giving this 'thanks' card to one of you, randomly selected on September 5, 2009.

How does this work?
Simply become a Fan @ my FB fan page and leave me a comment to identify yourself as you're shown on FB. If you are already a fan, just post here 'please enter me in the giveaway"

This Morning

While Ethan was having fun with granparents at the backyard, running around and finally settling in with a bucket of water...


I had a chance to make few cards.



The morning passed so fast and he was exhausted by noon. Took a nap around noon and is still fast asleep as I'm writing this post (3 hours later).

Hoo Hoo Owls Everywhere

Do you love owls as much as I do?






Aren't they just TOO adorable? They are available at my shop.

Have a happy weekend.

A Day Down at the States

We took a drive to the States yesterday for a day trip. There were six of us: my mom and dad, my sis and her little 6 mos daughter and then Ethan and I. Two young ones and we managed to survive until the end of the day with a few minor incidents.

So many places that we planned to dropped by that a full day trip felt so short. The picture above was Ethan at town of Blaine, a small town with a distinct character of patriotism, in my opinon. I wasn't sure if the blackberries at the background are edible, but probably are.

Our main destination was the city of Bellingham. A shopping at Target, Ross, Treasury of Memories, and Walmart is a must. Not that we don't have Walmart in Canada (we don't have Target though) but the Walmart in the States (and in Toronto) seem to carry more varieties. I wish we had more time to visit Barnes and Noble. I heard so much about it and really want to go there. Oh well, maybe next time.

I didn't buy tons of stuff. Nothing at Ross but I managed to buy a pile of cardstocks at Treasury of Memories. Cardmaking supplies are generally cheaper in the States than in Canada. Plus, they gave me an extra of 15% off for buying paper in bulk.

Grandparents' Backyard

The weather has been a bit yucky for the past couple of days, drizzling all day...everyday. But that's the reality in Vancouver. Nothing extraordinary about it. Sleeping and napping during raining days are great though! Sleeping under thick blanket...zzzz.....zzzz....so comfy. :-)

I heard it's going to be hot again next week. Hot weather is perfect for gardening although I don't do gardening myself. My parents, on the other hand, love gardening. The other day, I took Ethan out to their backyard. It was his first time stepping his feet on the ground. I had tried a couple of time in the past but somehow he hesitated and asked to get back inside. Don't really know why but he rather enjoyed the scenery from inside. I guess he had a fear unto something and it was beyond his comfort zone.
Apparently, once he stepped his feet on the ground and walked on the grass, he LOVE it! He had great time that he did not want to get inside.

He washed hand with Grandma. Or more like played with water.


Checking out the ready-t0-pick corns with Grandpa.

And check out these tomatoes! Organic! Some already being harvested.


On a different topic, just like to share with you one of cards that I listed today.


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Update on Adore By Nat Shop

I am going back on track slowly, starting to creating new cards. This sassy owl card is just too adorable. Just listed at my shop this afternoon.

Stay tuned for more owl cards. I have a few owl stamps that I can't wait to use. But of course, I'm still trying to manage my time better and create more cards.

Buy 3 Get 1 Free Sale is on now. Get your cards and tags today at great deal. Everything in this section is Buy 3 Get 1 Free. I need to clear my inventory in Indonesia while stock up on inventory here in Canada.

Searching For My New Partner In Crafting

I'm not a professional seamstress. In fact, I consider myself a novice. You probably won't believe that since machine stitching seems to be one of the trademarks on my cards. Well, certainly I've been sewing for a couple of years, paper sewing that is but I just realized that I've been 'playing with this such a cute sewing machine toy' instead of really sewing. Lol.

This cute little machine worked really well, at least IMO. It costs me less than $20 (bought at Michaels with 40% off coupon). However, most reviews that I read on-line said the opposite.
Anyway, it's time for the machine to retire. It still works but I cannot have it to work in a full capacity, demanding it to stitch the next hundreds cards or so.

This next sewing machine is bigger in size and yet it's still a portable sewing machine. I tried to work it with paper but so far I haven't had any luck to find the trick to make it work. I cannot really blame the machine, after all it worked well for my friend whom I bought it from. She managed to stitch a sofa cover and many more. Very impressive!

I think it's just me: lack of knowledge and patience. When I found out that I need to put a bobbin underneath, I was puzzled. I threw the question out on twitter, why. The answers made me realized how silly my question was to them. I do appreciate their helpful answers though and won't stop asking questions as there is no dumb question, right? The reason that I was puzzled was because this is new to me. The little toy sewing machine doesn't have a bobbin underneath (see picture above).

Or maybe this medium size sewing machine simply won't work well on paper? It's not invented for stitching papers afterall. It runs too fast, doesn't give a straight stitching as I expected and I have to re-thread after finishing every single card.

I'd been eyeing my parents' sewing machine that they had it for years already. It was hidden on its built-in table where my parents put a pot of flower on top of the table, a sign that they don't use it very much. My dad occasionally uses it for mending purposes. They bought it a garage sale for CAD$14. Such a steal! It's Singer and it's a REAL standard size sewing machine. I always wanted to give it a try but I hesitated to do so in the beginning. I thought it must be harder to operate it than the little sewing machine I had. Bigger machine seems to be more complicated since they have more buttons and options to choose etc and such novice like myself, I just need a simple basic one.

A couple of days ago, I had the courage and decided to give it a try, especially after knowing that it can do zig-zag stitching (FANCY in my opinion, LOL), something that I've been wanting to do for the longest time. There is no manual but good thing my dad showed me how to use it. He's been very helpful. Plus, Youtube is very handy! Got to give them some credits for providing the tutorials.


After a few trial and error, I finally could make it work to my satisfaction. Yipee!

I LOVE zig-zag stitching. It gives a much more additional nice touch to my cards. So, expect to see more of them at my shop.

One of these new cards is listed on my shop. More will be listed soon as I finally found my new partner in crime :-)

Boys Time

It's all about boys.

DH picked this race car set while I had something else in mind, something cute in a sense. But perhaps DH knew better ... after all he used to be a little boy.

Last Sunday, he put them together for Ethan.

It's so nice looking at them playing together while I had a little time to make cards. Everyone had a great time :-)

I'm Getting There

Although the next moving to a place we can call our own is still on the plan and yes, eventually we have to do the moving again and I prefer that it'll happen sooner than later, we still need to unpack and organize our stuff for the time being living at my parents' house.

So yesterday I asked my Mom if I could take over the formal dining table as my temporarily craft table. We barely use it anyway as we eat at the dining table, the one at the kitchen.

Here is the table when my stuff was still all over the place.

And now it's much better.

The papers that you see on the table are the only papers I have now. If you're a paper addict like me and cardmaking is your passion, then you'll agree with me that it's just so sad :-( But you would also agree with me not too worries as they are easily accumulated. My paper inventory is still waiting for me in Indonesia. Soon or later, we'll be reunited. LOL. We'll figure out a way without breaking the bank.

In fact, I had a chance to make a card today. Just one finished card, unfortunately. I encountered stitching problem, oh how I miss my tiny little machine (you can see it here). While others gave bad reviews, I am on the other hand gives it a two-thumbs up. I'll write more on my solution to the stitching problem in a couple of days, once I really get it solved :-)