Ztampfilicious

Lai See, Hong Bao, Red Packet. Who doesn’t want some?

Now, some lucky kiddos will receive an extra special Hong Bao with their face on it this Chinese New Year! I made these quickly using Ztampf! Year of The Horse HongBao Set, available from http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/Year-Of-The-Horse-HongBao.html:

I can’t wait to see their reaction when receiving their super special HongBao this weekend!

Yes, the Sweet Bookmark Calendar 2013 Kit is here – available in Letter and A4 Size Paper:

Make unique, personalized holiday gifts at home quickly and easily with the Bookmark Calendar 2013 Kits!

Go to Ztampf!Shop now to see more detailed views of the Bookmark Calendars!

Yes, I know it’s getting so late – but it’s better late than never!
I have been plagued with some serious computer problems which has really slowed things down a lot for me. Hence the late arrival of the Dragon! But yes, there is still time yet!

Let’s start with the Enter The Dragon HongBao Set first:

There is still time to make some really gorgeous and unique personalized Hong Bao for this Chinese New Year! Get it now!

The Enter The Dragon Kit, QuickPage Album and Ensemble Set will be released A.S.A.P. So watch out!

Enjoy and Happy New Year! May the benevolent year of the Dragon will bring you and your loved ones much joy and success!

December 2005. It was winter in Hong Kong and I was home alone as my husband was away and wouldn’t be back until the first week of January 2006. I was into my third month of designing digital scrapbooking and Ztampf! was basically all I spent my time on then – it was my baby!

My husband and I didn’t exactly do Christmas then, we exchanged New Year’s gifts instead. So I wanted to gift him something handmade that is not only nice and unique but also useful and practical. Then I got this bright idea of making him a desk calendar that can be collapsed into a flat booklet which he can carry with him whenever he travels – which he does quite a lot. I started to make some sketches to design the look and to work out the construction part of it. After some experimentation, I arrived at what would become the basic of all the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kits that came after that.

Then the digital works begun: creating the tabbed pages, the dates and months, the backgrounds, etc. Being totally immersed in digital scrapbooking, of course I made use of my own designs. I used my own personal layouts that I have made since I first started digiscrapping in August 2005 to decorate the calendar pages. I loved how it looked like as if they were actual mini pages stapled or stitched onto the calendars pages! And I was so pleased with myself to come up with the idea of unique Date Markers to mark the important dates in a way that is fun, special and practical! But most of all, I couldn’t wait to see my husband’s face when he saw it later! (Yes, he loved his New Year’s gift; it was such a super special and thoughtful gift. A total surprise too!)

The finished calendar, the first ever calendar I have ever made up to that point – turned out very well! Once I figured out the construction, it was so easy to put together I decided to make another calendar to gift to my parents back in Jakarta. And then it dawn on me that anyone would be able to make their own Crafty Calendars like the ones I just did, totally personalized with their own photos and important dates marked. I just need to provide the materials and the instructions!

So I worked on it, thinking up ways to provide my customers with as many options as possible to create the most personalized, customized calendars while keeping things easy to put together. I photographed the process of making the calendar so I can show how things are done better. The most challenging part for me at that time was to put together a comprehensive instructions, when English is not my first language and I couldn’t ask my husband (who is a native speaker) to help proof-read it as he wasn’t supposed to know about the calendar yet! But I managed to pull it off! The Instructions is in PDF format so people could print it and refer to it easily while creating the calendars. And so the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit was born. It appeared on the first time on Ztampf!Shop on January 5th 2006. Obviously a bit late but perhaps because there was nothing in the market like the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit, people loved it and bought it. Well, it makes a great Valentine’s Day gift… and Anniversary and Birthday – if those happened to be early in the year! So the first ever Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit did very well despite its late release!

This is how the first ever Ztampf! CraftyCalendar looks like.

And here is how the first Ztampf! CraftyCalendar appeared in the shops!

The following year in 2006, I made some improvements for the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2007 Kit, incorporating some customer inputs. For example, adjusting the size to use Legal size papers instead of A4 size because it is very hard for US customers to find A4 size papers, especially for digital prints while on the other hand, it is easy to re-size down from Legal size to A4. Another thing is to provide two versions: US English with weeks start on Sunday and Global English with weeks start on Monday. Started from this year onward, individual date layers in PNG are also provided to give people greater flexibility in creating their very own calendar pages. I also improved the Folder/Stand part of the calendar; to use thicker material so it is sturdier, and to use the then new Basic Grey magnetic discs for the closure.

Beside the more paper-crafty CraftyCalendars, I also released the Poster Calendar and the QuickCard Calendars that year!

>> To Be Continued

Yup! Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2011 Kit is now also available in
Global English, Deutsch and Française – with weeks start on Monday!

You can start early creating your super special holiday gifts for those special people in your life now. This is a gift that will last a whole year and then get treasured for years to come!

See what’s included in the kit:

Remember that the 30% OFF Discount Coupon given in the Ztampfever #58.2 is valid for all versions of the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2011 Kit! The coupon is good through end of this month, so don’t miss out! Get yours now.

of Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2010 Kit is now available:

13-Month Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit 2010 – Deutsche Version with Weeks start on Monday!

The original collapsible desk-calendar great for super special gifts that last the whole year and then some! Create fully customized keepsakes to give for Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Days, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Just Because…

Created using various recent ztampfilicious kits, the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit 2010 comes with so much goodies to give you a greater flexibility in creating your very own unique calendars.

Features:
• A 13-Month desktop calendar that is collapsible to a portable, flat ‘book’ – perfect for mailing and traveling!
• The finished, display size is Half-Legal Paper Size (approx. 8.5 x 7 inches).
• The Magnetic Snaps closure is not only cool: it is sturdy, practical and compact – available from many local/online scrapbooking supplies shops .
• Individual Monthly Date Overlays in PNG format are provided; you can use them in various ways for various types of calendar.
• Tabbed Calendar Page Templates are provided so you can create your calendar using any paper you wish!
• All the Weeks start on Monday.

Content of the kit:
• 28 hyper-realistic Tiny Ensembles ready to ‘drop’ to your Calendar Pages. They can be used for many other purposes as well.
• 27 fun and unique Date Markers for those important dates!
• 13 Months PreMade Calendar Pages (complete with background and the dates) – Deutsch.
• 12 Blank Calendar Pages (with background, without the dates).
• 3 Background Overlays for use with the blank pages and date overlays.
• 2 x 13 Months Date Overlays in PNG format (Dark and Light versions) – Deutsch.
• 3 Reversible Tabbed Calendar Page Templates in PNG format.
• 3 Sets of Designer Cover Pages.
• 9 Seasonal Charms to further embellish your calendar pages accordingly.
• 4 Sets of Title for the PullOut Note Cards – each provided in 3 colors.
• Template and 3 Overlays for the PullOut Note Cards.
• Illustrated Step-by-Step Instructions Booklet in PDF format with Tips’n Tricks Section – in English.
• Diagram for the collapsible Stand/Folder.

OTHER LANGUAGE VERSIONS:
• US English Version (Weeks start on Sunday)
• Global English Version (Weeks start on Monday)
• Version Française (Weeks start on Monday) – coming up!
E-mail me should you wish a version in your language (Only the name of days and months are in specific languages. The Instructions Booklet is all in English only).

Get your Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit 2010 – Deutsche Version here!

A while ago, KOLO USA asked me to use their albums as a way to show some creative uses of KOLO versatile albums. I have four albums shown in a KOLO event at C!ty’Super, Hong Kong in October 2008. I really enjoyed working with KOLO Albums – creating mixed-media and hybrid pages. What I love most about it is how versatile KOLO Albums are. Their post-bound system enables me to rearrange my pages quickly. Also, I can easily add more pages as I created more.

And these albums have been featured in KOLOIST, the KOLO official blog! Check them out:

http://koloist.com/index.php/2008/11/25/lie-fhung-kolo-albums
http://koloist.com/index.php/2008/11/26/mixed-media
http://koloist.com/index.php/2008/12/03/soar
http://koloist.com/index.php/2008/12/11/flight-journal-album

I have also uploaded photos of the albums’ content to the Ztampfest Gallery here where you can browse most of the pages I did. I try to give as detailed supply info when possible, along with some technical notes. While ordering photobooks online is fast and easy, creating your own hybrid albums is so much more fun and personal, I think! Plus, you have the flexibility to re-arrange your pages and let your album grow as you created more pages. Oh and I personally think they will make gorgeous holiday gifts ;).

– “Childhood Memories” – a Hybrid album in KOLO Newbury with Chartreuse cover

– “Soar” – another Hybrid album in KOLO Noci with Cobalt cover

– “Artisting” – a mixed-media art album in KOLO Noci with Mango cover

– “Flight” – a straight forward printed digital layouts in KOLO Newport with Chocolate cover

Enjoy! Hope they will inspire you to create your own!