Guest Designer Kary Lim

It is my great pleasure to introduce my newest guest designer who will be working with "A Year of Borders" this month and beyond: Kary Lim! I first noticed Kary's artwork in our StampTV gallery, I loved the way she was interpreting my images and a card she made with "Gifts from the Sea" sold me that she was a perfect choice for my set this month! She is as talented as she is humble, each email I receive often opens with "pardon my coloring skills" but attached is a card that takes my breath away! Today I am sharing this gorgeous Christmas card she created, it has me taking lots of notes!

Isn't that beautiful the way she trimmed the border slightly to give this gentle curve, I love it "hanging" casually over the top corner as a swag! The lone trimmed poinsettia and pine cone brings attention to the greeting, isn't that sweet how she framed it up in the fancy tag die cut opening? What a great way to use the die and DP! The colors are so fresh and crisp and I'm also crazy about the embossed Snowflakes background with her hand drawn stitching in subtle gray around the edge. Such thoughtful little details and such a fantastic way to kick off your design spots, Kary! :)

More about Kary:
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Kar-Yeng Lim, but I go by Kary because it’s easier for everyone to remember. I am a Malaysian Chinese and I live (most part of the year) in Kuala Lumpur. I am an Accountant by training, but I worked in IT Projects later part of my career. However, now I’m more or less “retired”, and co-own a small business with my sister in New Zealand. I am the middle child in the family (you can image the headaches I gave my parents growing up) - I have an older sister who is also an Accountant and a younger brother who is a New Testament Lecturer in a local Bible Seminary.

I love all sorts of craft but my main passion is stamping and cardmaking. This is an expensive hobby in Malaysia and none of my friends are keen on it. They often think I’m rather crazy to spend so much buying stamps and papers. I catalogue all my stamps and frankly I think I have way too many too :)
I also love to travel, and I’ve been very fortunate to have worked and lived in several different countries.

Describe your style/what you think you do best:
I don’t know how to describe my style, I guess I like simplicity. I don’t put too many embellishments but I am attracted to colours a lot. I love patterned papers and colouring stamped images. So on most of my cards, you will see more than one colour and lots of colouring of the stamped images.

FAVORITE TECHNIQUE:
My favourite technique would have to be colouring with markers and colour pencils. Recently, I attended a Copics class and started buying Copic markers, so I’m learning how to use them.

COLORS/COLOR COMBO:
Blue is my favourite colour, and I also love bright colours on my cards. But I’d have to say mostly blue/white combo is my favourite.

FAVORITE EMBELLISHMENTS:
Blings, buttons and ribbons.

FAVORITE GINA K SET BY MELANIE:
Gifts by the Sea – I LOVE being by the sea, it evokes a sense of freedom and awe at the same time, of how beautiful everything is by the sea.

FAVORITE GINA K SETS (FROM ANY ILLUSTRATOR)
Hmmm… this is hard, but I’d have to say Gifts by the Sea by Melanie, and also Vintage Borders by Nina Bracket.

CRAFT SUPPLIES I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT:
My Stamps, Cardstock and Patterned Papers, my colouring tools, Tonic trimmer & Scor-buddy.

I’VE BEEN STAMPING FOR (HOW LONG):
11 years! I discovered stamping in Louisville, Kentucky when I was there for work. A Stampin’ Up lady showed me some stamps and gave me a catalogue. When I got home, I started stamping and haven’t stopped since.

I GET MY INSPIRATION FROM:
Everything around me. But most of all, I’d have to say the stamps inspire me. I’d look at a stamp and ideas would begin to form in my head on what to create, the design, colours, etc. I don’t use colour charts (believe it or not, I find it hard to work with) nor sketches (unless for challenges), most times I just grab whatever I have on hand and get going.

Tell us about your FIRST stamping experience!!
Well, I bought a set of corner stamps from the Stampin’ Up lady in Louisville (which I still have today). I can’t recall what I did exactly but definitely I made some cards. It was so fun that I contacted her again, and had my brother (who was studying in Boston then) to purchase more stamps for me and ship them back to Malaysia.

Tell us about your most MEMORABLE stamping experience!!
I’d have to say making my friend’s wedding invitation some years ago. She lives in California, but somehow we managed to get everything organised via emails. I spent two weeks (at nights after work) to complete her wedding invitations. I couldn’t attend her wedding but I felt so glad and honoured to be involved in one of the most memorable occasion of her life.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT STAMPING/CARDMAKING ARE:
It’s a great stress reliever! When I used to travel a lot for work, I would always bring some stamps and craft supplies with me. After work, I’d do some stamping and it helps me to put aside work concerns and just enjoy myself.

SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING GOALS ARE:
I love the look of appreciation & delight on my friends & family’s faces when they receive a card or project from me. It gives me so much joy to bless others through my passion for crafting.
I love new ideas and new techniques and I love playing with all sorts of tools. Someday I hope to be able to teach others what I’ve learnt along the way and to inspire them.

ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS:
Don’t be afraid to try. Read craft books and magazines for ideas & tutorials and don’t forget to watch the videos on StampTV as visual aid is usually the fastest & easiest way to learn.

FAVORITE THING TO MAKE THAT AREN’T CARDS:
I love to make mini albums – they are great gifts for birthdays.

SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Being a guest designer for Melanie and being involved in a local fund raising event selling my cards. Otherwise, I can’t think of any - I love participating in challenges mainly for fun, but I’m too lazy to submit my work for publication.

CHALLENGES I LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN:
I think I like sketch challenges most of all or inspirational challenges. Colour challenges are usually difficult for me, because I only buy supplies in the colours I like.

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT MIGHT SURPRISE US!
I speak 3 languages – English, Malay and Chinese but I can’t read nor write Chinese. Of all the languages I speak, I guess I am most fluent in English. I once applied to do an English course (teaching English as a second language) and at the interview, the interviewer (a Brit) said although he could not find anything wrong with my English technically, he said I had an “odd” way of using the language. I passed the interview but I decided not to do the course! LOL!


I did Accounting at University mainly because I felt it was a course my parents would approve. It was very expensive for them to send me to study in Australia. If I had freedom of choice I would have done Psychology.

When I was young, I wanted to be a Singer in a rock band!

I dream in colour!

I swim quite well, but I’m afraid of swimming in the sea because of the movie "Jaws"!

I love cartoons – my current favourite is Ben 10!

I think I have a common Asian face – when I travel around Asia, people in the countries I visit claim I’m not a visitor. I’ve been mistaken as a Thai, a Singaporean, a Korean, a Chinese (in China) and a Japanese. :)

WHAT I DO WHEN I’M NOT STAMPING:
I love to read and I can read more than 10 books in a week if I do not stamp, LOL!

A FAVORITE QUOTE:
Life is really short, we have to enjoy every single day of our lives.. so this is my fav quote :
Write it on your heart that everyday is the BEST day in the year - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now let's go get more "A Year of Borders" inspiration on Kary's blog! be sure to leave her some love!!