Show Some Appreciation

My daughter asked me the other day where her origami dog was. She likes to makes dogs out of origami and even figured out to make the body all by herself.  When I asked her what it was for, she said, "oh, today is Teacher Appreciation Day" so I wanted to give it to my teacher. 

Now, normally I'm on top of all the holidays, occasions, etc... I guess this one slipped by me, so after school, we headed to the Starbucks Happy Hour (1/2 off fraps this week from 3-5pm!) for a treat, so I decided to get Mrs. Y a gift card since I recall her saying she loves coffee.  Besides, this gave me the perfect opportunity to use my new PTI set!  I bought this set specifically for when I want to give Starbucks gift cards.  Decided to go very simple this time and just let the colors do their magic and bring the card to life on the kraft background.  Kraft is my go to background now instead of white or cream.

Anyway, if you haven't already thanked your teacher, don't forget!  It's always nice to be appreciated!

Happy Birthday Karen!

 My friend Karen (or KI as I call her), go back about 14 years now... Wow!  Has it been that long since I moved to Hilo???  Anyway, we met at work and developed a friendship centered around our love of crafting.  I got her hooked on stamping and now she has her own blog... Check it out here...

Yes, as usual, I'm very late in getting my b-day gifts out. I think its partially because I want to get a gift they'll like or take so much time making their present, that I end up missing their actual b-day. 

Since I got my hands on those new Sizzix flip it dies, I thought it would be a fun and easy card to make.

Love these Doodlebug papers!  Added in another image from Sister Stamps that will be making her debut in July.... She keeps popping up on my blog!  I can't help using her!

And I made this waterfall mini album while hanging out with some friends in Honolulu.  Finished it up by adding the butterfly by Memory Box dies (my new fave) and flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts and All Natural Accents.  This paper line is one of my new favorites by Bo Bunny!

Here's the inside.  Left everything blank so Karen could fill the pages with whatever she wanted to.

This shot shows how the waterfall mechanism works.

Happy Belated Birthday Karen... Hope you like the gift and find it useful!  That's it for now!  So totally busy right now its not even funny! Hope to work on more craft projects soon that I can share-  its hard since sometimes the things I'm working on is for upcoming releases and I can't necessairly share them with you now.. But all I can say is that we have some fun things planned for our next release, which is scheduled for July 1st.  Stay tuned for more info!

A Swinging Good Time!

Wow- where did the weekend go? I had another furlough Friday, but even with that, I feel like I didn't have a break. Must've been all that cleaning and other activities that kept me busy busy busy. One of the things that really kept me busy was Island Scrapbooking's 8th Anniversary Party. You already saw my make 'n take that I offered (ghost candy stick bag), but I was also busy making some samples for the store of the new products that came in. Here's a card I managed to make before the sale... It's of one of my favorite Pure Innocence images! And she really swings too! See- now she's swinging back... And forth... So have to share this with you... Debi and Tracy both thought my tree leaves were clouds?!? Oh well, so much for going for that autumn look. They thought she was swinging from the clouds. I guess they didn't see the log I used for the branch either. It's just not as exciting when you have to explain your card to someone. Ha ha ha ha ha! I guess I'd better stick to more traditional colors next time.

Happy Birthday Jada!

A few weeks ago we got invited to a baby luau. Not having seen the invite (yes, DH forgot to bring it home), I was tasked with making the b-day card without knowing if there was any kind of theme, etc. All my DH could tell me was that the invite was pink... so I took a chance and went with an asian theme. Am I glad I did! As soon as we walked in, all we saw was japanese stuff. Here's the centerpiece.. I liked it a lot and took a picture of it. Cute yah? And here's my last minute card. I had bought these large sakura dies by Quickutz and LOVE them! In fact, I have another project using them that I'll share a bit later... still working on that one. Anyway, decided to keep it pink since the invite was pink. Used another sentiment by Island Scrapbooking too since its so easy! Here's a close up.... Hope you have a great weekend! Starting mine early since we are on furlough. Yay!

Just Relax!

Happy Friday! Hooray! The weekend is finally here! I am still getting used to 5 day weeks- when is our next furlough day again? Anyway, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, we have two retirements at the same time in our office, so I volunteered to make the cards. I had this one in mind for quite some time- its kinda the reason why I bought one of these stamps. I didn't know if either of the two girls would like this type of card though, so I took a chance and made it anyway. Started by altering the pleated center pop up card by making it a 6x6 size. Needed to have enough room for everyone to sign it. Once I figured out how to make it bigger, I started decorating it. Although I knew what stamp I wanted to use on the inside of the card, I didn't know what I wanted for the outside. I had bought this stamp at the same time as the one on the inside, and thought they kinda pair up nicely, so I used this one too- both are Penny Black wood stamps. Since the girls' apendeges (spelling?) are stick like and I didn't feel like cutting them out, I decided to stamp the image directly onto the background and paper piece the other parts. This became especially challenging on the scarf! Even though it was a lot of work, I think it looks better than if I had to cut out those stick figures! Added in some flowers for color on the grass and added another Island Scrapbooking laser cut- this time in pink to match the card. Here's a close up of the girl... OK- now for the inside... Ta daaaaaaaa! I thought this image would be so cute for a retiree since I would hope they would take time to relax after working all those years. I really wanted to use this image on this pleated center card so I could make the image pop up when laid flat. Here's what the inside looks like with the background... And here's what it looks like when its open flat. And I found out the recipient loves cats, so I had to add in a little feline companion! Create in Me makes the cutest animal stamps, so I dug in my stash and added this kitty in the grass. Oh yah, also used more Island Scrapbooking laser cuts on the inside- the Best Wishes and mini sakuras are by IS. Hope you have a nice weekend!

Omedeto Gozaimasu!

We are having a wave of retirements in our department at work and I volunteered to make cards for the two retirees. I really try to match the card to the person, so I asked around to see what they both like, hoping that it would inspire me when making their cards. Here's what I came up with for one of the ladies... She's very sweet and conservative and I just kept envisioning an asian style card for her... This washi paper is very nice and had so much going on, that I didn't want to take away from it's beauty, so I just added my sentiment and a few flowers, and that's it! I just love these sentiment laser cuts from Island Scrapbooking- they are the perfect size for us cardsmakers! Here's a shot of what the card looks like inside. To give it some interest, I added those asian looking photo corners by Sizzix. They really added to the plain inside. I also decided to try something different and place the sentiment on the top of the card instead of centered. In the bottom right corner of the middle section, I stamped my favorite kanji poem (Hero Arts) in versamark and then applied the gold mica powder to it for a more subtle effect. Needed enough room for everyone to sign the card, so had to also add paper to the back so everyone could sign. Hope she likes the card! Be back tomorrow to share the other card I made. Don't forget to check out our new Sister Stamps releases here and here for a chance to win!

Happy Hallo"wee"n!

Finally got to play with my new fairwee stamps by Sweet November. I just love these little fairwees! So small- so its super fast to color! I also found my old set of hats by Lawn Fawn, which contained a witch hat that was the perfect size for this little fairwee! Paired it up with the heebie jeebie's halloween set by Lawn fawn too. Love how the web has the sentiment right in the middle! I must admit, borrowed the idea about using the hat set from my CBFF Debi. She used the Santa hat on one of the fairwees, which totally inspired me to dig up my old set and dress up my fairwees. Background was colored using my distress inks- orange, green and purple. Love how you can blend colors you wouldn't normally be able to blend! Have a great weekend!

Happy Haunting!

This is probably my all time favorite Lawn Fawn stamp set! I have a soft spot for cute halloween stamps and fell in love with these little ghosts. I was anxious to get my class stuff out of the way so I could play a bit with my new stamps. I had seen this video on Jennifer McGuire's (my hero!) blog on how to make a floating window card. She has some great tips for hiding your adhesive etc. Go check it out and see what you come up with. I love things that hang and look like they are suspended in mid air, so this card really appealed to me. I must credit the black background idea to my DH. At first I just stamped Happy Haunting in black on the kraft background. It looked OK, but didn't make the card stand out. He suggested adding the black background and suddenly my card came alive! The ghosts stood out more and so did the moon. Added the fence punch to give more dimension to the card and left an opening so it wouldn't block the front of the house. Here's a close up of my favorite ghosts! Happy Haunting Everyone! Supplies:

• All stamps- Lawn Fawn
• Fence punch- Martha Stewart Crafts
• Cardstock- Bazzil

Happy Winter!

Did I tell you how much I'm loving Lawn Fawn? Their stamps just make me happy... especially the new releases! Couldn't wait to get my hands on those cuties. Making Frosty Friends was one that I knew I had to have. I didn't think that I would use it in a stamp layering class though... But as I sat and stared at my messy desk and stamps, I started to visualize what I wanted to do and here's the end result... I love how this came out! So simple too. This Lawn Fawn set actually comes with all the accessories for your snowman too! I can't wait to play with them more. Well, that's the last of my class samples. Hope you enjoyed it! Supplies:

• Snowmen, snowflakes and sentiment stamps- Lawn Fawn
• Snow background stamp- Hero Arts
• pearl mica powder
• cardstock- Bazzil

Season's Greetings

This is actually the first card I came up with for my Christmas stamp layering class. I had seen something similar on the Splitcoast Stampers gallery and put my own spin on it using the layering technique. I think my favorite way to layer is using word background stamps. So simple yah? For your Hilo bloggers out there, if you would like to sign up for this class, please contact Island Scrapbooking. This class was just added and was not advertised through the newsletter. Supplies:

• Cardstock- Bazzil
• All stamps-Hero Arts
• gold twine

Christmas Stamp Layering Class

Gee, its been awhile since i last made a non-Sister Stamps card! Planning my next Christmas Card class and wanted to incorporate the stamp layering technique- its like taking 2 classes in one. I had a few people ask me to offer the stamp layering class again, so I thought why not combine the two? Here's one of three cards we will make in the class. I decided to try layering on DP instead of just my usual white cardstock. I like to show versatility whenever I teach a technique to show students how to apply what they've learned to make different types of cards. Since the cardstock was already colored, I didn't have to worry about adding in distress ink to the background. Instead I decided to use my favorite music notes background stamp (Hero Arts cling) with versamark and then add my other favorite- gold mica powder to it. Sorry- camera still not working great, but I think this photo kinda captured the gold so you can see how it looks in the light. I know you can't tell, but it also says Merry Christmas above the reindeer's head. If you want a better look, you'll have to stop by Island Scrapbooking. Hopefully I can pick up a new camera soon. I'll post the other two cards I came up with soon. Thanks for stopping by! Oh yah- for those of you who inquired about where we went to eat dim sum... I wonder if I should tell you? Then it might get too crowded for us to enjoy when we go visit!! Nah- only kidding. We ate at Royal Garden at the Ala Moana Hotel. Super yummy! Where is your favorite dim sum place to eat? Supplies:

• All stamps- Hero Arts
• Corner punch- Martha Stewart Crafts
• crystals- Kaisercraft
• Mica powder
• versamark

Season's Greetings

Gearing up for another Christmas card class in August at Island Scrapbooking... I really wanted to make a white on white card this time, but somehow my mirrored silver cardstock snuck in. I decided to make a frame using my reverse wonky rectangle dies by Spellbinder and popped it up a bit on the mirrored cardstock. Before doing so, I embossed the frame using a Sizzix embossing folder. Added the Season's Greetings sentiment by Island Scrapbooking and some snowflakes for fun (Martha Stewart). Very simple and easy to put together. I find my students like simple cards in class, no one seems to like coloring all that much, so I try not to do too many cards that require coloring. Thanks for stopping by!

Embossed Tree Christmas

In between Sister Stamps stuff, I've been working on ideas for my Christmas Card class series. Here's one that I think will be saved until next month's class. I was finally able to use my new Spellbinder frames dies that I love. Decided to go with a cream and gold theme, but you can't really tell from the photo. It looks more like white and silver yah? I guess the lighting was bad at Island Scrapbooking when I took the picture. I love this new cling set by Hero Arts. It also comes with sentiments- I used one on the inside but didn't get a photo. After coming up with the idea, this card came together really quickly. No coloring, just stamp, emboss, cut and you're done! I suppose if you wanted to add some color, you could add some colored crystals to the tree. Personally I like it just using cream and gold. Hope you are having a nice weekend! After having 2 furlough weeks in a row, I feel like the regular weekend is so short! Gotta go get ready for class and the upcoming rummage sale at Island Scrapbooking... need to make room for new supplies! Check it out next Saturday for great deals.

Origami Tree Card

TGIF! Wow- can you believe it? I actually posted 2 days in a row! Things have gotten pretty hectic with the 2nd release of Sister Stamps approaching soon. I didn't realize my Christmas Card class was this Saturday! I made this sample about a week ago, but forgot to post it. This will be one of the cards we will be making along with the wreath card and the Kiyomi-tree card. I guess besides wreaths, I also love Christmas trees! Found a tutorial on you tube on how to make these easy peasy origami trees that I thought the student would like. Since there's a lot of folding, I recommend using origami or thin paper- not cardstock. Just another good reason to bust out my washi paper! It looked kinda plain, so I punched a hole and added some ribbon in the corner. Now you can also use it as a tag too! Been working on all my Sister Stamps samples for the retailers. Hope they like what I came up with! I'll be posting more on the Sister Stamps blog in the next few weeks. Check out the post here for a chance to win some of our new release stamps!

2nd Release Introductions Begin...

We are starting the introductions for the 2nd Release of Sister Stamps.... Check out our blog for more info and some candy!

My CATS for June

So hopefully Michelle received my CATS for June before looking at this post. As I told you in my last post, the theme for June was to use flowers on your card/tag. I really wanted to use my new Sister Stamp images, but needed to make sure flowers were included. I settled on some flowers by All Natural Accents found at Photocraft for the card featuring Mei Lin, and mini sakura laser cuts by Island Scrapbooking for the tag. I didn't want the card and tag to be totally matchy matchy, so I used two different girls and the same washi to tie them together. Hope she likes it! Here's a close up of Mei Lin... And a close up of Kiyomi... Other supplies:

• Tag die- Papertrey Ink
• Girl stamps- Sister Stamps
• Sakura- Island Scrapbooking
• paper flowers- All Natural Accents
• Washi- unknown
• Cardstock- Bazzil
• Ribbon
• Crystal- Kaisercraft

Kiyomi Christmas

Hi there! Just getting in the mood for Christmas! It's Christmas in July afterall, and I know everyone is starting to think about what they are going to do for Christmas cards and gifts this year... Last year, I taught a series of classes called the Christmas Card Club. It was a monthly class beginning in the summer that featured a variety of Christmas or Holiday themed projects. Well, students have been asking if I'll be teaching this class again this year, so I'm busy putting together some ideas for my first class. I always thought Kiyomi's pose looked like she was reaching for something. Well, on the original design, she is reaching for the butterfly, but I changed it up a bit and had Kiyomi reaching to put the star on the top of a Christmas tree. Just wanted to show you the versatility of this stamp- you are only limited by your imagination! To give it some asian flair, I stamped the Lawn Fawn pine tree onto some green washi paper for a fun look. I love how it turned out! Found the stool stamp by CC's Designs and the Merry Christmas sentiment at Island Scrapbooking. Michele is starting to carry various sentiments that are perfectly sized for card makers. Plus they are all one piece, so its easy peasy to adhere to your card. Love it! Here's a close up of Kiyomi... If you live in Hilo and would like to take this class, check out the Island Scrapbooking blog for upcoming class info.

Kiyomi Kick

I guess I'm on a Kiyomi kick right now. I love how easy she is to color up and cut out! Just thought I'd share the card I made for an upcoming make 'n take at Island Scrapbooking on Saturday. If you are in Hilo, please stop in and join us, or just to say hi! For more information on the make 'n take, click here... Here's a closer look at Kiyomi... Hope to see you there!

May CATS

What can I say? May and June have been very busy for me! So busy, I was super duper late on getting my CATS out for May... Sorry Berenice! Pls check out Berenice's blog here... she is co-owner of Karber Digital Images. Since Berenice lives in Mexico, I thought I'd send her some Aloha from Hawaii! Love these new CC's images that have a Hawaiian flair. Doesn't she look like she's ready to give you a lei? Since its a Card and Tag Swap (hosted by Joy), I included a matching tag and added a hibiscus from Island Scrapbooking. The die used to cut the tag was an old Sizzix die. I like it cause its flower shaped. Oh yah, forgot to mention that the theme for this month's swap was to use orange, yellow and pink on your projects. Normally I don't put all three of those colors together, but I kinda like the tropical feel of this color combo. Here's a close up of the card... Thanks Joy for coordinating this swap! CATS is open for sign up every three months. So check out Joy's blog for the next sign up. It might be open now, so check her out here... Once you sign up, you will be matched up with a swap partner each month for 3 months.

Full of Words

Guess I forgot to post this one... Made this a few weeks ago while getting ready for one of my classes. I really like using words as an accent. This card is just full of examples of how I've used words not only as the sentiment, but also on the background and on the flowers, which are the focal point of the card. My other favorite thing to use lately is kraft cardstock as my background. This card was very simple to put together.. just cut a piece of kraft and punched the corners only using the French Scroll corner punch by Martha Stewart. After I punched it, I thought it was a bit plain, so I stamped it using my Hero Arts background writing stamp in distress ink. I liked how this turned out since it gave it a vintage look. Cut the flowers and leaves using my Spellbinder nesties and used Pearl Brads (American Crafts) and pearl accents (Kaisercraft) for the centers. Topped it off with the Lawn Fawn banners and sentiment sets. Love how they coordinate so well together. The Lawn Fawn banner set is quickly becoming one of my faves. Sometimes a simple card is just as nice as a fancy card!