Tamiko's Thursday Teaser - Mixed Plate Assignment

Happy Thursday all! It's time for another Thursday Teaser for Tamiko's! This week the CT's assignment was to use buttons, brads, and bling! I could've gone overboard with these embellishments, but decided to keep it subtle instead. I used Coffee Kiki La Rue from C.C. Designs. For other C.C. Designs stamps, check out Tamiko's here.

Like my bling on my brad? Neat huh? I jacked this idea from my BFF, Kyoko! Thanks Buddy! Kiki's hair in the roller reminds me of a cinnamon roll.

I thought this sentiment was perfect for this card.

Tomorrow is Friday! Woohoo! Thanks for visiting and until next time, take care!

"Little kindnesses will broaden your heart." Zadik

Karber Challenge #7

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had as wonderful a weekend as I did! I try to make the most of every minute of the weekend because it always manages to go by so quickly. Don't you agree? Well, on Saturday I spent the day with a very good friend to celebrate her birthday. Cami and I spent the day talking, shopping, eating, shopping, talking, laughing, etc. You get the idea. We had a grand time!

On Sunday, we finally got our fur baby! We adopted him from the shelter my son is volunteering at. He's a domestic short haired cat named Maui. He's so cute and I would have shared a picture of him, but he's very camera shy at the moment and is still getting acquainted with us and his new home. I'll definitely post pics when he's ready.

Enough about my weekend. It's time for Karber Challenge #7! This week's challenge: Hobbies and Leisure! Wowza! How perfect is this challenge for all of us crafters?!? I know you all can relate, so please hop on over to the Karber Shoppe, pick up a digi or two and enter this challenge!

My first card is made with "Shopping Stephanie". And what is she doing? Our favorite hobby - shopping!

I love this sentiment!

For my second card I used "Reader Leslie". She loves the TWILIGHT saga as much as I do! She's reading her favorite book of the series, ECLIPSE ...

And this sentiment reflects my feelings when I'm reading ECLIPSE! Heehee!

The reason I made two cards this week, is because I felt my first card wasn't my best work. The flowers were too big for the image I used, and kinda overpowered the image. I am much happier with my second card - it's more balanced than the first. Know what I mean?

Anyway, some great news from KARBER! Karla and Berenice are having a DT call! Click here for all the details, and good luck to you should you decide to apply!

Thanks for reading this long post and hope you all have a great week! Until next time, take care.

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." Mother Teresa

I have to laugh ...

every time I see this card ~

I don't know why, but I decided to look back at some of my old blog posts. Have you ever done that? Well, this card is the very first one I posted and I can't believe I did that! In case you don't know the story behind this card, here's a quick and dirty version: I wanted to make a really special card for my BFF, Kyoko. After days of searching magazines and websites for a layout, I had info overload and couldn't think. So I got this epoxy "FRIEND" sticker and stuck it on a plain card. Hahahahahah! I still remember the look on Kyoko's face when she opened the card and boy did we laugh! And like I said, I still laugh every time I see or think about this card.

I've come a long way in my card making and crafting and that's thanks to my BFF and many other sweet ladies who have taken the time to comment on my blog and keep me inspired by their creations.

If you have a moment or two, go back to your first blog posts and check out YOUR creations and see how far you all have come. Maybe you'll laugh, or even scream, at your first creations you shared with all of us. Either way, I hope it'll bring you a little happiness. Take care everyone and much love to you all.

"Kind words are never wasted. Like scattered seeds, they spring up in unexpected places." E. M. Bounds

Tamiko's Thursday Teasers - Embellishment Challenge

Happy Thursday all! This week's challenge for Tamiko's Thursday Teasers was to use Spellbinders on your card. Here's what I came up with ~



I used several different Spellbinders dies - can you spot them all? I also used Rosalie from C. C. Designs Stamps. You can check out other C. C. Designs Stamps at Tamiko's here. Thanks for stopping by today and hope you're having a wonderful week!

Happy Mail!!!

Woohoo! We're half way through the week! Hope you all are having a good one so far ... as for me, I've been having "small kine" stress, so imagine how utterly thrilled I was to find this waiting for me at home after a very looong day! This beauty of a card is from my GF Jenny (from Hilo).


Look at the details and all that cutting!

Thank you so much Jenny ... and the goodies you sent are all mine! I hope we can craft together again so don't forget to let me know the next time you're in town.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time, take care.

"Friends cherish each other's hopes. They are kind to each other's dreams." Henry David Thoreau

Karber Challenge #6

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. I sure did! I went to the Happy Scrappers Jam with my BFF, Kyoko, and we had a day filled with fun and lots of laughter! I didn't take pictures (even though I took my camera), but the memories are in my head and my heart. I met up with some old friends, Brian, ManLe and Claudie, and also met some new ones, Sharon and Summer!!! Thank you for the great company ladies!

Now, as you know, every Monday there's a new challenge from Karber Digital Images and today is no exception. The theme this week was to make a card using food/beverages on it. Ok, I don't mean that you need to put actual food/beverages on your card unless you wanted to ... well, you know what I mean. Heehee! Anyhoo, here's what I came up with ~

I used "Cupcake Leslie" and you can get her here. Isn't she just the cutest?!? I stuck her on a Sizzix cupcake card.

Close up of sweet Leslie ...

Yum ... wish I had a cupcake right about now! Ok, head on over to the Karber Weekly Challenge Blog for all the deets and I hope you can play with us! Thanks so much for stopping by and until next time remember ~

"It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." Marlene Dietrich

OCTOBER OCS SIGN UP!

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!

Happy Sunday everyone! It's time to sign up for the October One Card Swap ("OCS")! I can't believe how fast this year is going by. Can you?!? This month's challenge is to make a CUTE Halloween card. I know a couple of the gals in the OCS who absolutely LOVE Halloween, so I'm sure they'll be happy with this challenge! If you're new to the OCS, and would like to play, leave a comment on this post, and e-mail me privately with your name, address, e-mail address, and blog (if you have one). The deadline to sign up for the October OCS is Thursday, September 30, 2010. I hope to see some new players this month! The perpetual players are listed below:

Kyoko

Teri

Joy D.

Michelle U.

Joy U.

Joni

Janice M.

Sharon B.

Dori T.

Sherri M.

Grace W.

Teresa M.

Jodi

Janis K.

Brenda B.

Jayne C.

Mary B.

Gail

Shani Kulani

Colleen K.

Jenny S.

McCine

North Shore Craft Girl

Denise N.

Claudia

Chris D.

Kim Y.

Liann M.

Leanne P.

Cindy A.

If you are a perpetual player and I've missed you, please let me know. Also, if you're unable to play this month, let me know that too. Thanks for playing everyone and hope you have a great week!

"What brings joy to the heart is not so much the friend's gift as the friend's love." Saint Aelred

Tamiko's Thursday Teasers - 3D Challenge & A Prize!

Yay! It's Thursday - almost the end of the week! It's also time for Tamiko's Thursday Teasers! This week's challenge for the CT was to do an altered Greeting Farm image on a 3D project. The good news for all you followers is Tamiko's is bringing back her monthly challenge for YOU to participate in! Yahoo!!! The prize for this month's challenge winner will be "Sweet Anya" from The Greeting Farm! If you'd like to play along, but aren't too comfortable making a 3D project, please feel free to create a card. Just be sure to use an altered TGF image.

I created this cute bag for the challenge using a template I bought from Becky Roberts of Inking Idaho fame. Becky has awesome tutorials for sale here.


Side view ...

Close up of my GF altered image ... Can you guess which two stamps I used for my girl?

I used Geisha Anya and Jade from the Roll Call set! Be sure to check out Tamiko's on-line store for more TGF images. Okay, so if you wanna play in this month's challenge, here are the deets: (1) Use an altered Greeting Farm image on either a card or 3D project; (2) Be sure to link your entry on Tamiko's blog here; (3) The challenge ends on Thursday, September 30, 2010 and the winner will be announced on Tamiko's blog.

Hope you're able to come out and play and have some fun with us! I can't wait to see all your creations! Thanks for stopping by today!

"Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspired." Homer

Karber Challenge #5

Welcome friends and Happy Monday! It's time for another weekly challenge from Karber! This week's challenge is to make a girl card. Making girl cards, for me anyway, is a challenge in itself. Why, you ask? Well, to me, there are sooo many cute images, embellishments, papers, sentiments, etc. to choose from, when making a card for a girl. Know what I mean?

Some of these super cute images are from Karber, and you can get them here. For my girl card, I used "Music Sophie". She is one of the new Karber Girls in the Shoppe and she is just rockin' out! I wonder what she's listening to ...

Hope you're able to play along with this week's challenge! I can't wait to see all your wonderful creations! Have an awesome week everyone and thanks for stopping by!

"Hold a true friend with both hands." Nigerian proverb

Tamiko's Thursday Teasers - Sketch Challenge

Happy Thursday everyone! If it's Thursday, it must be time for Tamiko's Thursday Teasers! Our assignment this week was a sketch challenge and we were to use the sketch below designed by Cindy Haffner. Check out Tamiko's blog to see the rest of the Creative Team's designs!

This is my interpretation of the sketch ...

Closer look at Birgitta ...

Super cute crochet flower made by my GF's grandmother! As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect on this card! Thanks Grandma!

Please be sure to check out Tamiko's on-line store for more great CC Designs stamps and other awesome specials!

"One of the secrets of life is to keep your friends within hugging distance." Anonymous

Christmas tags from my partners and a special RAK

Well hello again! I wanted to share the tags I received from my Tag Swap partners, ManLe and Kyoko. Look at how cute they are!!!

I absolutely adore ManLe's tag! Check out the cute Hello Kitty image! More on this image below. Thank you so much ManLe, I love my tags!

Here's the tag from my BFF, Kyoko ...

How adorable is Rudolph on this tag?!? I actually thought she made it in the shape of a Christmas ornament, so I have one hanging at my work station. I have to laugh everytime I look at it because ...

Look how HUGE it is!!! I have a secret I'm gonna share with you all about my BFF. She loves everything BIG! And I mean EVERYTHING! (Keep it clean folks!) Me, I like small things ... you know, cute, little tiny things. Kyoko, on the other hand, can't stand small things! So when she told me she was gonna use this HUGE scallop circle for her tag, I told her, "WOW! That's gonna be a BIG tag!" Of course she disagreed ... BUT, after she finished it, even SHE had to admit that this tag was HUGE! Hahahahaha! We had such a good laugh about it when she gave them to me!!!

Now, on to the "special RAK". I pre-ordered these HK stamps from ManLe of Pineapple Cove and received them last week. Check out her blog and store here. My BFF and I are so in tune with each other, that we both pre-ordered, but didn't know what the other got until our sets came in. Can you believe that we both got the exact same sets?!? Weird, huh? Anyway, as soon as I knew I was going to order them, I also knew that I had to get some for a special friend who lives far, far, away. These are the stamp sets I'm sending to my friend who lives in Mexico ...

The "Play" set ...


The "Christmas" set ...

And finally, the "Summer" set ...

Berenice, if you're reading this, I put these in the mail today (along with some other goodies) so let me know when you get them!!! SURPRISE SISTER!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks for stopping by and reading this looong post!

"A true friend prods you to personal growth, stretches you to your full potential, And most amazing of all, celebrates your successes as if they were his own." Richard Exley

A card for friends

Hello! Hope you're all doing well! I made this card for a very sweet couple who just celebrated their wedding anniversary at the end of August. I've had this Penny Johnson stamp for a while now but never used it. I'm sure many of you can relate to this, right? Heehee! Anyhoots, here's what I came up with ...


Pretty sweet, huh? Just like the couple it was made for! Thanks again for stopping by - be sure to come back tomorrow for a sketch challenge!

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you today, just the way you are."

Simple graduation favors

Hey all! Here are some pictures of the easy peasy favors I made for my son's graduation party. I made 80 and because they were so simple, they came together very quickly! Just my style ...

We had a delicious 7-course chinese luncheon - chinese chicken salad, peking duck w/steamed buns, lemon chicken, beef with asparagus, pork with eggplant, shrimp w/chinese veggies, and boneless minute chicken with cake noodles. Boy, it was a feast!!!

These are the lei that he received at the party - I totally forgot to take a picture of all the lei he got at graduation, so I made sure to take a picture of these. Only thing is, I see someone's foot in the picture now! I wonder who that was??? Heehee!

Thanks for popping in and I'll be back soon! Until then, take care.

"Trust in the power of other people who can help you to accept and love yourself." Ann Kaiser Stearns

Karber Challenge #4

Howzit everyone! Hope you're all enjoying your Labor Day Holiday! It's Monday, so you know what that means! It's time for another Karber Digital Images challenge! I can't believe we're on Challenge #4 already!!! That means this week will make one month that Karber has been in business! Congratulations to Karla and Berenice and here's wishing you continued success!!! By the way, speaking of Labor Day, Karber is giving away a super cute FREE digi with any purchase during the Labor Day holiday! Hop on over to the Shoppe and check it out!

This week's challenge is to make a BOY card! For my card, I used Baseball Jude and you can get him here. I'm very happy with the way this card turned out. Here's the behind-the-scenes story: I'd been feeling under the weather this past week and wasn't able to create this card after work, which is usually when I craft. I woke up early on Thursday morning and made this card in about an hour! I couldn't believe it! But since I knew what image and papers I was going to use, it all came together very quickly and easily. This little Jude is such a cutie pie, don't you think? Anyhooz, please be sure to check out Karber's Weekly Challenge Blog here for all the deets!

MORE NEWS: Karber has added two other Challenge Blogs in addition to the weekly one. Some followers have expressed interest in having more time to enter the challenges, so Karber now has a MONTHLY challenge and a CHRISTMAS challenge! Please be sure to check these out and become followers! Thanks for stopping by today and taking a look. I truly appreciate all your comments and I read every single one of them! Until next time, take care.

"It's better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps ..." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Tamiko's Thursday Teasers - Color Challenge

Happy Thursday everyone! Hope your week is going well. I have some news to share ... I'll be a guest CT member for Tamiko's during the months of September and October! My first assignment was the Surprise Blog Hop for Cami, which was so much fun to do! I hope you had a chance to play along.

On to my next assignment. This week's "Thursday Teaser" is a color challenge. We were to use pink, green and brown on our creations. I used an image and sentiment from TGF set "Me Time Anya" which can be purchased from Tamiko's, here.



Like her bubble bath bubbles?

Another view ...

I hope this post has inspired you to try out this color combo on one of your creations! Thanks for stopping by and come back soon for more "teasers"!

"The greatest blessing is a pleasant friend." Horace

SURPRISE BLOG HOP!

Yes, you read the title right! This is a surprise blog hop, for one of Tamiko's CT members! Our very sweet and talented Cami is having a birthday very soon so this blog hop is for you, Cami! Surprise!!! Heehee! Cami thought this blog hop was for The Greeting Farm's new releases and it is, but it's also to celebrate her special day! If you arrived here from Janis's blog, you're on the right track. If not, please start at the beginning of the hop and continue on.

For Cami's card, I used an image and sentiment from TGF Sweet & Toxic set. You can purchase this set from Tamiko's.

What would a blog hop be without some sweet candy? Not much of a fun hop I'd say! So, here's what's up for grabs: a $10.00 gift certificate to Tamiko's and your choice of either Sweet Anya or Oh Boy Ian, the new releases from TGF! Cool beans, huh?!? How do you enter? It's very simple ... you must comment on each CT member's blog for a chance to win! The hop ends on September 7, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. HST.

Here's the blog hop line-up:
Tamiko's (start)
Joy U.
Mama
Jodi
Kyoko
Michelle
Cami
Joy D.
Teri
Janis
Linda (you're here!)
Joni
Tamiko's (end)

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment below before you hop on over to Joni's blog! Have a great day!

"The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away." Wilson Mizner