Let Us Eat Cake!

We're almost there!  Woo hoo- just one more day till you can get your hands on our new stamps!  All of our guest DT have been working soooooo hard coming up with all this inspiration- I  hope it helps you to be inspired when working on your projects.

You should have arrived here from Cami's blog... if not, you can jump to the front by hopping on over to the Sister Stamps blog.

So I thought to myself as I was coming up with Release 8 project ideas... what is a party without.... CAKE!  I love cake.  I mean that is my favorite dessert.  Cake and ice cream.  Mmmmmm!

So I got inspired by all those real cakes you see on the internet sites where other scrappers make these banners to put on their birthday cakes for their kids.  So I thought, why not make a paper version of this for Sister Stamps!  It is our birthday right?  Here's what the finished project looks like.

So I cut the cake slices from an old Sizzix pie slice die and made the "cake" base.  Since I didn't really intend on filing each piece of cake, I decided to adhere them together using some pleated ribbon from Stampin up as it reminded me of frosting. Then I channeled my friends Kimmie and Mrs. Lum and used some pearl bling over the ribbon.  Normally I'm not so frilly on my projects, but I thought it was fitting since its a cake after all.  Then on each piece, I added a rose that I had sprayed with perfect pearls mist.  Thanks Kimmie for that pearl trim!

Here's a close up of Mariko that I used for the topper.  First I cut the doily from my My Favorite Things die.  That die has so many pieces that pop out! It felt like forever, but I finally got all the pieces out.  Then I glued on more roses (also sprayed with perfect pearls).  In the middles I poked a BBQ skewer in the center and it fit nicely into the hole left between each cake piece.  Then I added my Mariko image onto scallop circles and adhered two of them over the skewer so it stayed erect.

The finishing touch was the Akemi banner over the whole cake.  I'm laughing to myself because I made the banner two sided and I thought I was so smart by putting the "a" behind the other "a", etc... I then showed it to my husband for approval, which I guess he didn't look at real good cause he didn't point out that I had spelled akemi correctly one one side, but if you turn it around, it spelled "imeka".. DUH!  ha ha ha ha ha!  I had a good laugh after that.  You would've really thought I was not so bright!  Luckily I caught that before any incriminating photos were taken.

Oh yah, the banner was made using the Paper trey ink banner die set.  I love that it gives you two sizes of the same shape to mat the banner.  The only thing is that the flags are a bit big for cards, but it worked out perfectly for this project.  The letters were also a Papertrey Ink die. I  am really loving this alphabet set!

Hope you are enjoying all of our projects so far!  Can you believe Release day is tomorrow?  Yay!  Then the real craziness will begin!  Stop by tomorrow for one last project!

Miyoko Easel Drawer Box

You made it to the last post for today's blog hop!  You should have come here from Cami's blog... if you missed out on everyone's posts, go back to the Sister Stamps blog and start from the beginning to see everyone's creations. We will be hopping again tomorrow, so be sure to check out our Sisters again for all their amazing projects!

Today I have another 4 drawer easel card box to share with you.  I had made a couple earlier for Akemi's teachers for their end of the year gifts.  Wanted to make another one using our new release images, so I decided on Miyoko this time.  I had bought this Sizzix fan die awhile ago and never had the chance to use it till now.  I cut the fan twice, once using washi and once with my favorite gold cardstock.  I used a circle to trace the curve at the bottom of the washi paper and cut it out by hand. I cut off a couple of the edges of the washi die cut so that it would fit inside the gold die cut.  It took some adjusting and two tries before I got something I could work with.

For the borders, I punched two strips using my square border punch by EK Success.  It looked so asian to me, that I knew it would add the right touch to the project.  To make Miyoko stand out a bit, I added some pop dots behind her.

Here's a close up of Miyoko...  Oh yah... here's a secret... My sis intentionally drew her so that you could cover the cupcake or cut it out of her hand and replace it with something else!  I will have to give that a try soon.

And here's the box with the easel card open.  I used some post it notes to hold it open.

Can you believe Release Day is almost here?  Just a few days away and you should be able to get your hands on these babies.  Hope you are enjoying all the sneak peeks!  Stop by tomorrow for more fun!

It's Time To Celebrate!

 Well Hello There!  Did you miss me?  I know, I've been super swamped with Release #8 of Sister Stamps this month, so not much posting, but I did manage to make a few extra goodies to share with you for our first ever Sister Stamps blog hop!  You should have come here from Cami's blog.  This is the last stop on the hop.. hope you enjoyed it so far!

So, all I have to say is "BOING!"  Do you know what I'm referring to?  I found these action wobblers at the last Rubber Stamp expo on Oahu and couldn't wait to use them!  I had it all planned out, but after I started making the card, I realized that they were too big for my image.  Boo.  So I improvised like any other crafter would, (or maybe I get that from my husband?) and cut down the adhesive part in hopes that it would fit under Takeo's balloons.  Let's just say it didn't really fit, but I made it work somehow.

Kept the rest of the card very simple by using some of my new Spring Distress Inks by Ranger and my favorite sensei- Tim Holtz!  I haven't gotten my Summer set yet, but I'm sure they will be just as fun to play with.  I gotta say that I love these colors!!  I didn't use the peacock color that was included in the set cause I thought it might be too dark, so I ended up using tumbled glass instead.  The sentiment is from a old Hero Arts birthday set.

Now for the fun part... BOING!

I tried really really hard to activate the wobbler for the photo and I think I got a pretty good shot!  Well, you can see my finger in the photo, but you get the idea.  I don't recommend doing this if you have the action wobblers.  It barely fit and you can see some of it sticking out from behind it.  But I guess I was determined enough to make it happen.  If there's a will, there's a way right?

Be back tomorrow with more fun on our Release #8 blog hop!  Check out the Sister Stamps blog if you missed out on everyone else's posts- you won't want to miss out on all the fun!  Oh, and don't forget to enter into our blog candy giveaways by checking out the Introduction posts earlier in the week!

Surprise!

We had a surprise wedding to attend on Saturday... yup, found out about it on Friday night, so I was a bit rushed to make a card with less than 24 hours notice.  Now, I'm normally the type to procrastinate anyway, so I guess it wasn't that out of my comfort zone to rush a card.

I was totally inspired by a card featured on the Hero Arts Blog... by melstampz.  This card totally caught my eye and I knew I wanted to try one for myself.  Although this background stamp can be used for all occasions, I thought it would make a nice wedding card.

So I stamped the image on watercolor paper and embossed it with pearl embossing powder.  This is the first time I'm using that pearly powder, and I love it! Tried to get a shot so you can see the pearly-ness.  Then I colored in the flowers using my distress pens and TH water brush.  Then moved onto the leaves.  I did another version where I also colored in the background as well.

After I was done "painting", I matted the card onto some gold cardstock and tied a ribbon around it.  BTW- I could not for the life of me find pink sheer ribbon. Can you believe it?  I have TONS of ribbon, but couldn't find it in pink.. so I made my own!    Got my white sheer ribbon and just swiped my Spun Sugar Distress Ink pad over the top and then dried it with my heat gun.  Good enough for me!

I love this card so much I'm thinking of using this techinique in an upcoming class. Maybe if we ever do Stamp Camp 2!

And in case you haven't visited my Sister Stamps blog lately, please check it out!  We are celebrating our 1 year birthday with some candy!  Head on over every day this week for good fun!  Oh yah, and don't forget to check my make 'n take schedule next week on Oahu.. Hilo schedule coming soon!

Arigato Sensei!

 DD finished up her first year in Japanese School and absolutely loved it!  She even won a special award!  We were so surprised when we found out as we did not know until we got there and saw her name on the program.

Since this would be the last time we see her Sensei until next year, I decided to make her one of the 4 drawer boxes.  This time, I used Kiyomi from Sister Stamps to decorate the box.  For Christmas, I made a calendar for DD's Sensei, and everytime she sees me, she thanks me for the calendar.  She really liked the images and was so happy that I made it for her.  Since I knew she liked Sister Stamps, I knew I had to use one of the images on her box.

Here's the box when its closed/flat..  I cut the "hills" from washi paper using my PTI die that cuts hills so perfectly!  Then added my own punched butterflies from my MS crafts punch.  The frame was also punched using a MS punch around the page set.

Here's a closer look at Kiyomi...

And here's what the box looks like opened up.  I again used a post it pad to hold open the card, and added some Wild Orchid cherry blossoms as accents.

Here's a side view so you can see that the butterflies will flutter and how the drawers open up..

 

I hope Sensei will like it!  Looking forward to when Gakuen starts up again next year!

Playing With Distress Markers

 For an upcoming class, I decided to feature the new Tim Holtz (sensei) Distress Markers and waterbrushes.  Love the effect of using both together!  Wanted to keep it very simple for the class since we are focusing on technique.

I just got this pretty Memory Box flower stamp and decided to use this on my project.  Sentiment is by Hero Arts.

And here's a closer look.

After coloring in the image, just used some Spun Sugar Distress Ink around the edges.  I think I need to make more of these simple cards!

A Teacher Thank You

See... I told you I was still crafting!  Yes, I had to come up with some last minute teacher gifts for DD's last week of school, so I started surfing the blogs for some ideas and stumbled on the 4-drawer easel card that I know most of you have made before... but I have never, so I decided to try it out.  It was actually very easy to make and didn't take much time at all to get the base done.  It's always the decorating that takes up the most time.

Luckily, I had just purchased some chalkboard vinyl that had arrived.  What better way to decorate the card than with a mini chalkboard!?  I wrote the teacher's name on the board using a chalk marker (highly recommended), but told my daughter to tell her teacher that she could erase it and write whatever notes she wanted to on it.  Here's what the card looks like closed...

And here's what it looks like when its propped open.  I used the post it notes to hold the easel open.  All flowers were from Wild Orchid Crafts except for the one on the clothespin.  Got that from the dollar bin at Michaels.  The cute purple binder clip was from target and the bee brad and paper is by Doodlebug.

Now you can see the mini drawers!  In this one I inserted a mini post it pad.  In the others I added in more colored binder clips.

DD's teacher liked it so much, she asked me to make one more for another teacher! Luckily they were fast to make!

Altered Pencil Boxes

 Hi All,
Did you miss me?  I know, I've been a bit MIA, but I have good reason... Lots and lots of family stuff over the past two weeks.  I've been crafting here and there though, so now that all the craziness is over, I thought I'd catch up on some blogging...

Since Mom and Sis will be going to visit my bro and the family in Italy, I thought I'd take advantage of the "free" postage and whip up some goodie bags for the girls.  Yes, all of our families and extended families only have girls on my side, so it makes life easier for me.

I picked up these cute boxes at Target's dollar section.. I love that section!  You never know what you are gonna find!  They were part of a fruit theme, so I got a bunch of stuff to put into the boxes too that all matched perfectly.  Since the boxes were plain, I decided to alter them up a bit and personalize them too.  Since the younger three girls still liked Hello Kitty, I cut some using my old Sizzix die.  For the older girl, I decided to go with a flower cut from a SU Sizzix die and add a rhinestone flourish as an accent. 

Got some of those foam letters and put each girl's name on their box and added on some small flower accents.

Here's a close up of one of the boxes.

I just love how these came out!  Have a great week!