What I've Been Up To

 While checking out blogs, I noticed that my poor blog has been neglected.  Only 11 posts for the entire year!  So sad.  So I'm gonna try to start posting more regularly- just hope I can keep it up. It's not that I've not been crafting, I have, just mostly working on Sister Stamps samples, which I post on that blog.  But sometimes its fun to take a break and do some other non-Sister Stamps projects too.

While blogging and YouTubing, I came across a tutorial that I've always wanted to try.  I've seen several versions, in various sizes, but pretty much the same concept of a Waterfall Mini Scrapbook.  I am not that big a fan of the regular waterfall card, but for some reason, the mini album version appealed to me.

I was so happy when the Doodlbug order arrived at Island Scrapbooking.  Their new lines are so darn cute, I couldn't help myself!  I just love new spring line and knew I wanted to incorporate it into my mini.  Here's the cover.. Decided to use the bird and tree house as the focal point.  Punched the lattice fence with my MS punch and layed it over the photo mat.  I didn't know what photo to put yet, so I used some removeable adhesive so that I could tuck the photo in when I'm ready.

 

When you open the mini, it looks like a regular book, but you can see the tab on the far right, which will tell you or the recipient to "pull me"!  

When you start pulling, this is what it will look like- I used other papers from this line for each page.  The nice thing about these papers is that they are 2 sided, so you can use both sides of the page for your photos or journaling.  Once I add in my photos, I'll add more embellishments from the same line like flowers, buttons, and cardstock stickers.

 

 As you can see, the pages start to get smaller and smaller towards the end.  You could also position it so that you flip the cover open up and pull the tab down instead of having the pull tab on the right.

Well, hope you like my project!  I'm having so much fun making mini albums!  I have more to come- just need to get photos taken and then I can share.  Later alligator!

Creative Chemistry Online Class Rocks!

Hey Everyone!
I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but I've been busy.  Getting ready for Release #7 of Sister Stamps is taking up a LOT of my time lately, but I hope you'll feel its worth the wait.  It's an all boy release, so its pretty challenging for me to come up with samples, but I'm feeling pretty good considering.

And the other thing that is keeping me busy is the online Creative Chemistry class I signed up for taught by my craft idol- Tim Holtz!  I've been watching videos all week but finally had some time today to work on some of the techniques taught in the class.  I finally got some needed supplies, but I can't finish all the techniques just yet as I don't have a lot of the products he uses.  I guess I'll have to wait for that order to arrive before I can play with those. I'm very excited though and can't wait for my stuff to get here!

 So I had to play with what I did have... cut up some tags out of old manila folders that I thought I was gonna use for a mini album, but since that's out the door, I decided to make use of them and make my own tags.  Bought the last tag die at Island Scrapbooking so I'm armed and dangerous!

After cutting up the tags, I set up my ipad and watched the videos while distressing along with Professor Holtz.  Sigh.. he makes it seem so easy!  I can't seem to figure out how he gets his so nice without much effort while I struggled on what seemed like such an easy technique!

So here's my first set of projects from Day 2- Distress Ink Introduction.  The first tag was using the flicking water technique.  I didn't know it would be so much fun!  2nd tag is brushless watercolor?  I think thats what he called it.  Anyway, had fun with that technique too.  I remember doing that long time ago with old Hero Arts and Penny Black flower stamps.  The last tag was the hardest for me.  I had to try it 3 times before I got something I was ok with posting.

 

After I finished the samples from the class, I decided to play a bit since I had everything out.  The first tag is using the emboss resist technique.  My friend Debi told me about it and teaches it in her Distress classes.  The 2nd tag was just embossing on top of the distressed background. I chose Queen's gold by Ranger- it's my favorite color to emboss with.  Finally, my last tag was just playing around. I wanted to make an asian tag, so I found my kanji background stamp and combined it with my new PTI buttefly stamp.

  

Ok gotta go scrub my fingers now!  Hope you are having a nice 3-day weekend!

Supplies:

Butterfly stamps- PTI

Flourish stamps- PTI

Stitched flowers stamp- PTI

Happy Birthday stamp (Butterfly tag)- PTI

Thanks and Happy Birthday stamps- Waltzing Mouse

Kanji background- Hero Arts

Inks- Distress Inks, Versafine, Versamark

Embossing powder- Ranger clear and Queen's gold

Mica powder

Tag die- Sizzix (Tim Holtz)

Surprise Kris!

 Surprise, surprise!  What's the surprise you may ask?  Well, today is Kris' Birthday!  Woo Hoo!  To help celebrate, I'm participating in a special birthday blog hop hosted by Lollipop Crafts.  We all wanted to wish her Happy Birthday by creating projects just for her.  You probably came over from Dena's blog, but in case you missed out on the first half, go back to the Lollipop Crafts blog for the full blog list.

As many of you probably guessed, I met Kris through blogging.  She is such a nice person and although I've never met her in person, I feel like I know her already! Most people don't know this, but Kris actually gave me a lot of advice in setting up Sister Stamps! :)  Thanks Kris!  Without you, I don't think I'd have the guts to start it and now look how much we've grown!  It was about this time last year that Kris and I were emailing each other about starting up a business.  That's when I found out what a night owl she is!  Man, she sure stays up late. I thought I stayed up late, but she takes the cake.

So on to the card... I decided that this special lady needed a special card.  Since I had pop up scrapbook on the brain, I decided to make it into a card.  Here's the cover... SURPRISE!  It's a sneak peek of a new image that won't be released until summertime.  You'll be introduced to her in July.... Washi is from my Japan stash and the sentiment is a lasercut from Island Scrapbooking.

In the first section, we have Yoshimi with a matching greeting by Hero Arts.  I was so happy to find this sentiment on one of the new Hero Arts sets!!!  It matched up perfectly!

Had to include some boys in the card, so Nobu makes an appearance here.  I love how you can cut off the toy and put other things in his hand.  I chose a mini cupcake punch by EK success.  The sentiment matched perfectly and is from a Hero Arts set.  Topped it off by adding more punched cupcakes.

I couldn't make a mini album without Kiyomi!  She is definitely one of our most popular images. Added in some gold sakura from Island Scrapbooking and another Hero Arts sentiment.

Finally, Yoshi makes his first appearance on my blog!  You will meet Yoshi next month when we start introductory posts for Release #7.  Doesn't he look like he's ready to party?

So Kris, I know I never met you, but I feel like you are such a great friend already!  Hopefully we'll get to meet up soon and then the craziness will really begin!

I just wanted to share one more story about Kris... while on my CHA trip in January, I met Jessica from the Greeting Farm.  Now I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to craft icons, so I didn't really tell her who I was, but I did mention that I wanted to take a photo of Kris' banner project that was being featured at the show.  Once she found out that I was Kris' friend.... her face lit up and she couldn't say enough about our friend.  I thought that was so neat that everyone who meets Kris seems to think the same way.

Happy Birthday Girlie!  You relax and have a good one.  For more birthday projects, hop on over to the Lollipop Crafts blog for the hop list and see who else is wishing Kris a Happy Birthday!  To check out Debi's projects click here... and tell her I said hi!

Birthday Wishes & A Winner!

Wow... I'm pretty surprised that so many of you entered to win my blog candy!  I thought that no one really reads my posts, so if I didn't post a photo of the candy, no one would leave a comment and enter.  I guess I was wrong. You guys are reading this stuff aren't you?

So before I share who the winner of my giveaway is, I thought I'd share a quick card I made one night.  I had already distressed a bunch of backgrounds so that I could mass produce some cards, so I had it lying around just waiting to be finished.  While on my trip, I found an awesome store called Paper Source!  Thanks to Debi and Denise for telling me to go there.  It's not really a scrapbooking store- more like a stationary store. The washi paper immediately caught my eye and I had fun picking out so many new designs that I haven't seen before.  They also have their own line of stamps that I fell in love with.  The cherry blossom stamp featured on this card is by Paper Source. I stamped it in Versamark and added the gold mica powder to make it shine.  I also stamped the right side of the card using the same technique using a kanji background stamp by Hero Arts.  The sentiment is one of my new favorites by Papertrey Ink.  Debi used it on a Sister Stamps card earlier and I've been eyeing it every since!

You can check out the Paper Source online store here...

And now for the winner...

Congratulations to Mimi!  Thank you Mimi and everyone who left a comment on my blogaversary post!  And thank you for following me for the past 3 years... I wonder how long I will continue to blog my crafting journey?  Oh well... too much to think about now. I'll just enjoy it while I can!

Tech"neat" Class

 When I signed up for the Hero Arts Tech"neat" class, I was so excited and was really looking forward to it.  After the first class at 8:00am, we had a break for lunch before our next class.  So we decided to head to the Silhouette booth to do their make-n-take.  I wish we did it earlier, because by the time we went, they were almost out!  They were giving out bags that you would iron on a design cut from the Silhouette.  My sister and I chose the same design, but she chose the red flock and I chose the smooth red.  After our images were cut, we had to weed out the part that we didn't want on the bag.  Man, did I have a hard time doing that!  I struggled and the girl had to help me out!  My sister on the other hand had no problem.  Sigh.  So they even had a hard time ironing it on!  Finally the girl pressed it several times before assuring me that it would be ok.  You can tell where I made mistakes, but overall I was still happy with my project.

After that, we headed back to the classroom for our Tech"neat" class.  Since we had sat through their last class, we knew the pace would be fast.  We were better prepared for this one and was able keep up, which was surprising since there was more technique involved (hence the name).  Even though we made the same amount of cards in this class and the cards were more difficult, I think we had more fun and our cards came out better in this one.  Here's all of the cards we made.

This was the first card we made... I think it was my favorite technique!  We finger painted using distress inks.  At first my sister was not into getting her fingers dirty, but after she realized she had to do it, she actually enjoyed it.  We couldn't wash the ink off after class and later recognized who was in the class by their dirty fingers!

This was my other favorite card of the day.  I think its cause its using one of my favorite color combos- pink and brown! you can't tell from this photo, but the pink heart is actually attached to the inside of the card and you can see it through the die cut heart.  I think its one of those dies that match the stamp system.

Sis and I decided that we should have taken more classes as this one was really fun.  I don't think we could take as many as Patti did- she didn't even have time to eat! But I think there might have been a few more that I would have wanted to go to.  If I ever go again, I'm gonna register really early and try to get into the Tim Holtz class- I'm sure that one is worth waking up early for!

3 Years Old

Time sure flies!  I can't believe its been 3 years since I started blogging!  I remember when I discovered the world of blogging.. I was instantly addicted!  It was like a wealth of paper craft information... for FREE!  The more I searched, the more I was hooked... and here I am today, still blogging now and then.  Not as much as I used to, but as you know, within the last year I've also started my own stamp company!  Although this has taken a lot of time away from my crafty and bloggy time, I still enjoy visting everyone's blogs to see what they are up to.

I am also very happy that through blogging, I have met so many fun and wonderful friends!  Living in a small town that you did not grow up in makes it hard to find friends that have the same interests.  Blogging opened up a whole world where I could find others that were just as crazy as me about paper crafting!  I feel so fortunate to have met so many crafters not only from Hawaii, but from around the world!

I gotta tell you, I've met some bloggers in person and they are nice, but when you tell them that you are a craft blogger too, their eyes light up and there's an instant connection!  I guess we all feel comfortable with each other since we all get excited over the same things, all have messy desks, all lose stuff and end up buying 2 of the same thing, all hoard our craft supplies... and the list goes on and on... I guess its nice to know that you aren't the only one doing those things!

Sooo, for all of you who have been following me on this journey, its time for some fun right?  Well, since Sister Stamps is dear to my heart, and I'm celebrating 3 years of blogging, I think one of you should win some blog candy!  Hmmmm, I'm thinking 3 Sister Stamps of your choice! I'll throw in some other goodies too, but that's the main part of the prize. Who doesn't like a little freedom of choice?

So, how do you win?  Well, I'm lazy nowdays, so I trust you guys... just leave a comment on this post by February 29th 11:59pm HST and you'll be eligible!  OK- if you leave more than one comment, I'm only entering you once. :)  No being sneaky now!

I wonder how many people will actually enter to win if there is no photo that shows up in the blogger window?  Are you guys even reading posts anymore?  We shall see...  Good Luck!

Hero Arts CHA Class!

So you are probably wondering if I took any classes while at CHA?  Well, I managed to get into 2 Hero Arts classes and dragged my sister along with me.  She was hesitant at first, but after the class starting going, she managed to keep up and ended up enjoying herself.  In this first class, we made 5 cards in 2 hours!!  Of course, all the kits were cut, so we didn't have to take time for that.. just had to cut out a few stamped images, but nothing major.

The best part about taking the class was that it was taught by Hero's Designers that you see all the time on their blog- Jennifer McGuire (stamp god) and Shari Carroll and a few others.  It was fun to see them in action and get great tips along the way.

The pace of this class was FAST!  Even I had a hard time keeping up, but I think it might have been because I was trying hard to listen to the instruction over my sister whispering to me.. "what did she say?, what do we do now?"  I think it didn't help that we picked the back of the room either.  The cool thing was that during the class, they picked names and gave away stamps from the new catalog and at the end of class, they told us what stamps and supplies we could take with us.  All that free loot was so worth it!  Did I mention the class was included in the badge fee?  Others around us told us that last year you had to pay $30 per class, so this was a good deal.  Free is good to me!

As you can see, that newsprint background stamp was used a lot.  I think I need to get that stamp!

We also used that pretty Basic Gray paper.  Love it!

Since this was a basic card making class, the cards were pretty simple to make. The only thing we did really was put them together.  It did give me some good ideas in terms of layering etc.  If you want to see these cards in person, head down to Island Scrapbooking- I dropped them off there for customers to check out.

I took another class the same day, so I'll share another post on the cards we made in that class.  Ja mata!

For Me?

I was so surprised to be the recipient of the Liebster Blog Award!  This award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers.  I think this is a cute way to recognize us small potato bloggers that do it just for fun and not for being popular!

I was amazed that 3 bloggers felt I was deserving of this award.  So nice of all of them to think of me!  Here's the gals that awarded me with this honor...

• Sweetland Paper Treats
• K-Lusive Kreations
• Cuddles of Luv

Thanks Ladies!  I feel so flattered you thought of me!  I actually feel like you guys deserve the award too, but since you already got it, I will try to pass on the love to others who inspire me too..

• A Star for Chiemi- I have no idea if she has 200 followers or not, but I think she deserves this award!
•  Wahine Ink- Just because I love her work!
• Bearasaurus- Craftroom Haven:  Such cute projects!
• Kerry is Chilling- Love her SS cards!
• by tkg- Fun and Simple cards!

For those of you who are picking up your award... here's some additional info for you...

• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
• Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

CHA And Other Fun Stuff

Did you miss me?  Yes, I know I've been MIA lately, but I had good reason!  After the holidays, I've been getting ready for my trip to LA to attend CHA!  Woo hoo!  It's been a dream of mine to go one day and I finally made it!  Dragged my sister along with me and had a blast going through all the new stuff and taking classes.  A bit more about that in a sec.. wanted to share some pix from the trip....

First up is my darling nieces... DN2 (Darling Niece 2) is seen here at Bruxie. If you ever have a chance, you have to try this waffle place.  Its so awesome!  They have both sweet and savory sandwiches made out of waffles.  The junk things is that there is not much parking and only outside places to sit.  Other than that, the food is fabulous!

Here's DN1 showing off her waffle.  She chose my favorite... waffle w/lemon curd and fresh berries.  Yum!

This was taken when we were waiting for our food..

And after we ate lunch, we checked out this cupcake place that won Cupcake Wars on Food Network.  The cupcakes were OK.  Read on for more on cupcakes...

Here's the firs pix we took at CHA.. I pretty much forced my sis to take it with me.  I love how the Lawn Fawn booth had this polaroid and props to make your picture fun.  They were soooo nice there!  We even met some ex-Hawaii residents.  They were so nice and knew immediately we were from Hawaii too!

When we saw these, I made my sis take pictures.  Sorry- not so in focus- this was taking w/my iphone...  Do I look like a Sister Stamp?

Here's my sis with the other outfit...

Finally got to meet Patti from Creations by Patti!  She is so full of life and such a great resource!  She told us all about digital cutters, etc.. I was trying to take notes in my head, but I don't think it worked.  Saw her later and she told us she didn't have much time to eat lunch cause she's so busy taking classes!  She's so fun, wish I could've hung out more with her.

And I also got to meet one of our former guest DT- Leanne!  Leanne was so nice!  She was helping out at the La La Land stamps booth doing a make 'n take.  We didn't have much time to talk, but she was so much fun to visit with!  

OK- you will think I'm a stalker, but I took this photo from behind Tim Holtz!!!  Yes, I could've touched him,but I didn't want to scare him.  :)  He is a craft god!  To watch him in action was pretty amazing. 

Also met another blogger.. Ivy!  She was waiting to go into the Hero Arts class we took.  She found out I am blog friends w/Donna of Three Umbrellas and so we took a photo to email to Donna.

Ooh.. got to meet another "Celebrity", Jessica from the Greeting Farm!  She was so nice, especially when she found out I knew Kris (K-Lusive Kreations)!  They were on the TGF DT together and she could not stop talking about Kris.  

After a busy day of ordering, we played hooky and went to the Happiest Place on Earth!  Yes, Disneyland!!  Here's what we saw when we first walked in.. Poppies!  I guess spring is almost here!

 We also went to California Adventure and rode the Toy Story ride.  Sis is so awesome at shooting games!  She skunked me!

 Later that day we happened upon the Jedi Training Academy show and after the show, we ran into some Stormtroopers!   DH was totally jealous that I got to take a picture with one.  He kind of scared me.

 

 

Ahhh, Toontown... We almost didn't go, but I wanted to check out one of the stores.  Glad I did cause we found some really neat stuff!  Also took a fun photo here...

 

When we got back to my brother's house, he surprised us with the most awesomest cupcakes ever!  OMG- I am craving them now just looking at them!  From left to right starting at the top... Hula Hula (coconut & pinapple- my fave!), Raspberry, Boston Creme, (bottom row) Chunky Monkey (PB, banana & chocolate), another Raspberry, and Chocolate Mousse.

As you can see, my nieces loved it too!

I had lots of fun on this trip!  It was definitely a fun experience at CHA.  Next time I gotta take more classes!  Back at home now with the family- its good to be back!

Yoshimi Frame

Hello Everyone!  Did you miss me?  I've been crazy busy with family matters, another Sister Stamps release, and getting ready to go to CHA!!! Woo hoo!  Anyway, just thought I'd pop on in before my upcoming trip to say "hi" and share this project.  I don't know if you remember, but I mentioned earlier that I had made some frames using our new images... Here's one of the frames I made... I'm finally able to share it with you since Yoshimi has now been released!  Yay!  I hope you like her as much as I do.  I was so happy my sis decided to make an image using fans. 

Well, I'm off to bed, but will be dreaming of what I gotta do for my trip.  I'm hoping me and sis can brainstorm some ideas for upcoming releases!  Can't wait to spend some sister time together.