The Zen of Oriental Card Making

I simply love this new cloisonne kimono stamp from Michael Strong I was making some triangular cards during the last live webcast of Come2Chat and since it was a bit rushed I promised to come back and do another card and this is it ! :)

Used Hot Off the Press paper and coloured the stamped image with promarkers then highlighted the image with a white gel pen.

Before I forget there's also a kimono die-cut that matches the stamp (it's sold separately)

Sunny day today in London and it seems appropriate to show you this almost spring like Chinese Coins Greeting Card.

I used lovely oriental Japanese papers and with some simple matting I thought the lovely oriental lady would just pop off the card using a dark blue background.

Great news as Katie my lovely sponsor from Japan Crafts has updated her website with a lovely new look and more new items to come very soon.

I can't wait to see what's going to be available and don't forget that Katie does Japanese workshops so please visit her website for more infos.

Here's Japan Crafts New Look !

Yet another sample made for Japan Crafts, my current blog sponsor.

This card was a bit of challenge in as much as placing the outline stickers/peel offs very straight, I also refilled them with the gold of another sheet of them. Basically it plays on contrast of gold, black and red.

I love that little bird in that dreamy chinese landscape scene. I've used chinese paper matted it in black.

Placed at the centre of a white crisp solid base card for that minimalistic look.

I had so much fun making this card for Katie at Japan Crafts !

I saw these lovely stickers and thought straight away sushi tray. Yum !

The card was quite straightforward to make so it's a just a matter of layering and adding the dimensionality (is that a word ?0 to the tray handles.

I use three patterned papers in the simili shade of subdued lime green to complete the look I left a white border around the central mat as some stickers had white on them so to recall that hue.

There's also a fantastic show tonight 'In The Zone' on Creative Edventures with Cynthia Gagen et Roberta Birnbaum which will be totally about the new Chinese year so if you like Oriental stuff you must, must, must watch it ! Just click on the banner at 9pm (Eastern time) ...2am (GMT UK time if you're up that late) and you'll get into a great fun chat room where a video of the host is broadcast. You can ask questions and join in the fun. If you have a webcam (optional) you can even show your oriental creations if any.

Love that dragon ! Don't you ? I thought that paper matched it perfectly. I had so much fun making this card. I've used very dark contrasting red and black paper for matting.

I coloured the image with pastel pencils and sansodor, final touch was adding a peel off at the bottom.

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I liked making it with it's clean and simple style.