Sister Stamps Release Day!

Hello everyone!  As Alice Cullen said in New Moon, "IT'S TIME!  IT'S TIME, IT'S TIME, IT'S TIME!!!"  And of course she was referring to the Sister Stamps Release #10!  It's finally here - you can get your very own Chinese Zodiac images - either the Year of the Snake, or the Year of the Horse.  Be sure to head on over to the Sister Stamps blog and check out the right side bar for retailers and on-line stores.  I would love to see what you create with your stamps!  Until next time, take care and happy crafting!

Sister Stamps Release #10 - Chinese Zodiac - Horse

Welcome back to Day 2 of the Sister Stamps Release #10, Chinese Zodiac images.  The second image being released is the Year of the Horse.  Here's an altered paper bag I created using some washi tape, IAR flowers, Bo Bunny Serenity paper and Prima letter stickers.

As with the Snake, I didn't know anything about Horse people.  Here are some of their characteristics:  "Horse people are extemporaneous and quick-witted. They are quite intelligent and use their practicality to their advantage in their business and personal lives. Their sharpness makes them quick to pick up new skills and are able to handle many tasks at one time. However, this ambition can be harmful because Horse people often don’t finish what they start for fear of missing out on the next big challenge.  Horses are trustworthy, friendly and open-minded. They are good friends to have and will always be honest with you. Although they are good confidants, Horse people do enjoy their alone time and are usually independent people. They can struggle with obstinance and self-centeredness, which can lead to a flare of the temper if they don’t get their way. Usually, after an episode or temper-tantrum a Horse can feel remorse, yet not all people will be able to forgive their reaction."  Here's a close-up of my sweet Horse.  Isn't she beautiful?  Now why did I call the Snake a "he" and this Horse a "she"?  Hehehe ...     

Again, be sure to stop by these blogs and show them some love:  Patti, Eunice and Laura.  And of course our fearless leader, Jenny!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and don't forget -- the official release date of the Year of the Snake and Year of the Horse stamps is tomorrow, December 1, 2012.  I also would like to thank Jenny for asking me to join the other guest designers on this fantastic release.  Be sure to stay tuned for the rest of the Chinese Zodiac images to be released.  You won't be disappointed!  Until next time, take care.

Sister Stamps Release #10 - Chinese Zodiac - Snake

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great week. Are you ready for another FAB Sister Stamps Release? If you've been following the Sister Stamps blog, then you already know what the first two Chinese Zodiac images are! I was so happy when Jenny asked if I could help with this special Chinese Zodiac Release. For my first project, I decided to make a calendar using the Year of the Snake stamp.

Since I didn't know what characteristics "Snake" people had, I decided to google it.  Here's just a little of what I found:  "The Snake is the intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animal Signs. They are attractive people who take cries with ease and do not become flustered easily. They are graceful people, exciting and dark at the same time. Contemplative and private, the Snake is not outwardly emotional. They can appear cunning and reticent and works very modestly in the business environment. The Snake will plot and scheme to make certain things turn out exactly as they want them to. They are not great communicators and can become quite possessive when they set their minds on achieving the interest of a partner."  Interesting, huh?  Here's a close up of the Year of the Snake stamp.  He's so cute!

Besides the FAB Jenny, there are three very talented ladies who are also guest designers for this Chinese Zodiac release.  Please be sure to stop by their blogs and say hello to:  Patti, Eunice, and Laura!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for my second project, using the Year of the Horse stamp.  Just a couple more days until you can get your own Chinese Zodiac stamps!  Until next time, take care.

Happy Halloween from The Pride!

Hey everyone! Welcome to The Pride's Halloween Blog Hop! You should've come here from Suzie's den, but in case you didn't, please prowl on over to our head lioness Elsa's den here to start pouncing!  This month's challenge was to make a Halloween themed slider card OR a project using Fall/Autumn colors.  If we made a slider card, the three top Alphas (Elsa, Krystal & Kimi) are gonna choose a winner and give out some goodies to one of their cubbies!!!  Woohoo!  So, I chose to do a slider card since I've never made one before AND who wouldn't want some goodies, right?!?  Hehehe!  The construction of the slider card is pretty easy, but for whatever reason, I was having a little bit of trouble.  Once I got it done and working, I decided to do something a little different to the card.  Because I put so much blood, sweat and tears (such an exaggeration!) into making the slider base, I decided to make it a DOUBLE SIDED slider card!  Woohoo!  Here's the first and main side of the card:

 

Here is the back side of the card: 

 

 

I used a bunch of different supplies for this card and I actually used lots of paper scraps.  I also used SU and MS punches, Halloween stamps from The Greeting Farm and C.C. Designs which were colored with my Copics, the eyeball and bottle of blood are MS die cuts I picked up from TJ Maxx, assorted Halloween buttons from my stash, the rub-on sentiment "Cast Your Spell On Me" and the purple tinsel trim is from Pink Paislee's Hocus Pocus collection.  So, what do you think? I'm really happy with the way this card turned out! For a better look at how the card slides, please check out my YouTube video here.  When you're done with the hop, be sure and head back to Elsa's den and let her know which slider card was your favorite one, ok?  Hmm, wonder if I'll get any votes ... now I know what politicians must feel like.  Bwahahaha! 

Anyhoo, hope you're having fun prowling from den to den and checking out all of the Pride's wonderful projects!  Next, please pounce on over to Margaret's den for more crafting inspiration!  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!  Until next time, take care.

Strut Your Style ... With Just A Few Friends

Hey everyone! How have you all been? Hope you had a wonderful summer and are getting ready for the holidays which are just around the corner! Eeekkk! The months have definitely flown by and now its time for another hop with JUST A FEW FRIENDS! You should've arrived here from Suzie's den. If not, head on over to Elsa's den here to start. This month's theme is "STRUT YOUR STYLE". Well, if you know me, I don't really have a style. However, my girl Elsa tells me otherwise. :-) She describes my style as "beautifully simple". I like that! I like to try different paper projects that I see on YT or on FB or on blogs that I follow. So what I did for my project this month, was create a birdcage but it doesn't house a bird. You'll see what I mean. My inspirations came from my gf Jenny, and Steff (brownbabycraftaholic on YT). Thanks ladies!

Here are the front and side views of my birdcage.  I used the Spellbinders Bird Sanctuary large birdcage die and followed Steff's tutorial.  She did an amazing job and her instructions were so easy to follow!  Thanks Steff!  I used Bazzill cardstock, Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, lace, my FAB flat back pearl trim from Sherence (thanks sister!), a nylon butterfly from my gf Cami (thanks lady!) and a big pink "diamond"! I still need to record my YT video so hopefully you're a subbie and will be able to see the movement of the hanging diamond. :-)

Here's a close-up of the pink diamond hanging inside the birdcage.

 

Here's the butterfly, the trim around the bottom of the cage, and the top view of the flowers.

Well friends, I hope you like my project.  Maybe it'll inspire you to get out your pretty paper, flowers, bling, and whatever else you've been hoarding (we all do it!) and create something that will make you happy and maybe bring happiness to someone else! Now, prowl on over to Margaret's den for another awesome project! Have a wonderful weekend everyone and until next time, take care.

Surprise Birthday Blog Hop!

Surprise!  Today we are celebrating Leanne Poe's birthday by throwing a fun birthday blog hop party!  We thought we'd gather a few of her friends and design team members to celebrate her special day.  If you came here from Kathy's blog you are in the right place.  If you didn’t you may want to start at the beginning at Yumi & Fumi's Handmade Crafts blog. 

I "met" Leanne (aka Lilo, aka Fumi) through blogging several years ago. She is one super talented lady and I'm so happy for her and Renate for realizing their dream of having their own stamp line! Woohoo! Congrats again girl!

On to my card (actually, it's Leanne's card) - I used YUMI PEACE SIGN which I was lucky enough to win from Y&F's release blog hop! She is so cute and I just love that big smile on her face! I colored her with my Copics, and used the Bo Bunny Serenity collection. The cardstock is from SU and I used the Martha Stewart deep edge cherry blossom punch for the side border. The sentiment is from an old set of clear stamps (one of my first) and I punched it out with the small scallop oval SU punch. The red mini cherry blossoms are from my gf Jenny (I believe she got them from Island Scrapbooking), along with the Happy Birthday sentiment inside the card. I almost always forget to decorate the inside of my cards, but this time I remembered! 

So that's my card for Leanne! I hope you like it girl! At this time, I would like to thank Eva for including me in this very special hop. Thanks so much Eva! I really appreciated your thoughtfulness! 

Next up is Linda T. and be sure to end the hop at Leanne's personal blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!!! Thanks for hopping with us today and I hope Leanne is super surprised!!! Until next time, take care.

Surprise The Pride! With Just A Few Friends

Hey everyone! Hope you all made it through another week without too much stress. Mine started off returning from hot, hot, hot Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon, recovering on Monday, then headed off to court for jury duty. The best thing about jury duty was seeing an old friend Joy, and catching up with her. Check out her blog here for her amazing projects! She is the shaker queen!

On to my project for the Just A Few Friends August Blog Hop. You should have come here from Suzie's blog, but if you didn't, be sure to start off at Kimi's blog here. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, our Den Mama, Elsa, and her baby Krystal will not be joining us this month, but be sure you check us out next month for the full Pride line up. The theme for this month's hop is "Surprise The Pride". We didn't have any guidelines - we could make anything we wanted. For me, not having any guidelines or requirements is a little difficult. For my other crafty Pride members, they are all such talented crafters that they went all out! Anyhoo, I needed ideas. So I've been prowling YouTube and have seen many altered paper bags, so I decided to give it a try. This is what I came up with ...

I used a paper bag I received in a RAK from my GF Jenny, covered it with kraft cardstock, my DP is from Prima called Nature Garden, and I inked everything up with TH's Gathered Twigs distress ink. I used two stamp sets called Girlfriends from TPC Studio and Free Flight from Penny Black. I also used my clear Rock Candy crackle paint for the first time on the bird on the card (below) and the entire birdcage and bird. I added a tiny clothes pin decorated with mini pearls and a baby rose to hold the paper bag closed.

I used Hug Snug seam binding in eggshell and colored it with Lindy's Stamp Gang ("LSG") Glitz Spritz in Sunset Pink, made two bows and layered them, then added a buckle and half-back pearl from Sa Crafters. I also dyed some white lace with LSG Moon Shadow Mist in Van Dyke Sepia but it was way too dark. So I took some LSG Starburst in Creme Brulee Cream, dabbed it all over the lace and the color lightened up to what I wanted. Then I layered some light pink flat back pearl trim over the lace.

Here's a video of my project - hope you enjoy it!

That's it for my August project and I hope you are enjoying the Hop so far! Next please head on over to Margaret's blog and check out her amazing work! Have a wonderful crafty weekend my friends! Until next time, take care!

Stars and Stripes Hop with Just A Few Friends

Happy Fourth of July from all of us at Just A Few Friends!  Wishing all of you a very festive and safe Fourth of July celebration!  Have you been enjoying the hop thus far?  We sure hope so!  We've been busy prowling around our dens and sniffing out crafting items for our creations. You should have come here from Suzie's den, but if you didn't, please start at Elsa's den, she's our den mama and will start this hop off with a bang!

Our challenge this month was to use stars and stripes on our project.  I decided to make a book card based on a tutorial from The Rubber Cafe Design Team.  I can't believe how easy it was to make!  I didn't want to add too many embellishments on this project- not sure why, but I just wanted to keep it simple.  Believe it or not, most of the paper I used were scraps.  I used my Copics to color a digital image I got from C.C. Designs back in 2010.  Her name is Kiki.  Here's the front of the card ...

I did add a little bling - my red, white and blue stick pin - a red heart, a mini white heart and a blue star.

My GF Jenny had given me a couple of jute twine flowers and also shared the tutorial with me.  You can find the tutorial here, from The Bug Bytes blog.  They are also super easy to make.  I thought about putting another flower or a flat-back pearl in the center, but I wanted to show how the flower center looked.

This is the inside of the card.  Like I said, I kept it pretty simple.  The red base was embossed with stars from a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and I also cut some of the same embossed stars out to stick on the corners of the book.  Another twine flower and a SU sentiment are layered on top of the base using pop dots.

Now it's time to pounce on over to Margaret's den to see what she has created for you!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Remember, celebrate responsibly and don't drink and drive.  Until next time, be safe and take care.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER STAMPS!

Welcome back everyone!  Today is the day we've all been working up to ... the official day of Sister Stamps Release #8!  Woohoo!  Hope you've all be enjoying this special blog hop and have gotten some great ideas from the talented ladies who shared their projects with us.  I know I sure have!

For my last project, I decided to use MARIKO.  Like I said before and like what the other ladies have said as well, Mariko can be used for so many different occasions.  I've used her here on a gift card holder.  Of course you could also use it to hold money, and there's also a matching mini card inside.

The paper I used is from the Bo Bunny Serenity Collection and the sakura die cuts are also from the same collection.  The HB laser cut and mini yellow sakura were from Jenny.

The video includes a look at how the holder opens and also shows what the mini card looks like.  I cut the card base and the panel inside the card using my Spellbinders dies.  I colored Mariko with my Copics and mounted her on the circle and scalloped circle die cuts, again from Spellbinders.

That's it for me gang!  Hope you liked my projects for this very special blog hop!  I had a lot of fun creating them and I do believe my mojo has returned.  Now, head on over to Cami's blog for the last of her fabulous creations!

Congratulations again to Denise and Jenny on Sister Stamps' first birthday!  Don't forget to go to the Sister Stamps blog and check their sidebar for the retailer nearest you to pick up these cuties!  I also wanted to say thanks for stopping by and leaving such wonderful comments!  I appreciate them and you!  I'll be back with more creations so until we meet again, take care.

Sister Stamps Release #8 Blog Hop - Day 3

Hey everyone!  Hope you all are enjoying the hop so far!  I just want to say THANK YOU to Jenny for asking me to join her and her fabulous designers for this very special release.  Means the world to me Jenny! 

So for today's project, I used MIYOKO, Little Miss Cupcake.  Isn't she super sweet?  AND, if you've been hopping along with us, you know the little tip that Jenny shared with us about why Denise drew Miyoko this way!  Very clever indeed!  Anyhoo, I decided to alter a plastic jar.  These jars are from Making Memories, come in a set of six, and they're called Scrapbook Embellishment Storage Jars.  The day I found these jars was the same day Jenny bought a similar jar at a rubber stamp expo we were at.  She showed me the jar and we both thought it would make great little gifts.  So as soon as I saw these jars, I HAD to get them!

I colored Miyoko with my Copics (Jenny, please teach me how to color hair!), CUT her out, and mounted her onto a lacy scallop circle.  I added some pink and brown dew drops to fill up the empty space around her.

I wrapped the lid with some lace and pearl trim I got at Wal-Mart, and added some pink baby roses.  Around the jar I layered a piece of pink cardstock, more lace I got at Wal-Mart, some ribbon with cupcakes printed on it, and some flat-back pearl trim.  Maybe you'll be able to see the jar a little better in the video. 

Well folks, we're almost there!  July 1st is tomorrow and you can finally get your hands on these fabulous stamps!  We still have one more day to hop, so for now, head on over to Cami's blog for some yummy goodness that she has created for you.  If for some reason she doesn't link up to Day 3, please go to Jenny's blog here.  Hope you're able to come back tomorrow for our final projects and the official start for Sister Stamps Release #8!  Thanks again for stopping by and leaving such wonderful comments!  I love getting them and reading them all!

Sister Stamps Release #8 Blog Hop - Day 2

Hey everyone!  Welcome to Day 2 of the Sister Stamps Release #8 Blog Hop!  Hope you've been enjoying yourselves and getting some ideas from the wonderful projects posted by all these talented ladies!  You should have come here from Kris's blog, but if not, please start at the beginning of the hop here.  I don't want you to miss a thing!  For my project today, I decided to use TAKEO.  I love that he's hanging on to those balloons tied to a bamboo pole ... the details that Denise brings to her images are awesome!  I made this tag holder from a household product that EVERYONE has in their home.  Can you guess?  If you said a toilet paper roll, you'd be correct!  I've been wanting to make a TP mini album for a while now, but never got around to it.  I thought I'd make a tag holder to see how easy it was to smash the TP roll and get it super flat so I could cover it.  It was super simple and now I'm definitely gonna make a TP mini in the hopefully near future.  Anyone up for a challenge?  Heehee!  I need to finish my paper bag mini album first. 

The paper I used to cover the TP roll and the front of the tag is from the Serenity line by Bo Bunny.  I colored TAKEO with my Copics, added some Glossy Accents to the balloons, used some mini sakura flowers that I got from Jenny and the pearl centers were from my stash.  The black Chinese trim was a RAK from my YT buddy Rina, the ribbon pull on the tag is from Webster's Pages, and the laser cut HB sentiment was also from Jenny. She teaches classes at Island Scrapbooking on the Big Island and they also have a website so check them out.  I also did another video for this project.  AND, just in case you were wondering, I'll be doing videos for my next two projects.  Yipee!  LOL!

 

Thanks for stopping by today and leaving comments for me.  I love reading them and I appreciate them all!  Your next stop on the hop is Cami.  If for some reason you are not linked to her Day 2 project, please go to Jenny's blog here.  That's it for Day 2 - I'll see you again tomorrow with another Sister Stamps project!  Until then, take care. 

Sister Stamps Release #8 Blog Hop - Day 1

Hey everyone! Welcome to Day 1 of the Sister Stamps Release #8 Blog Hop! Can you believe it's been a year since Denise and Jenny launched their sweet stamp line? Congratulations you two, and may you be blessed with much continued success! Let's get down to business, shall we? You should've come here from Kris's blog.  If you happened to stop here by chance, please go back to the beginning of the hop, here.  You won't be disappointed with all the wonderful creations!

I decided to start the hop off using MARIKO. She's so cute holding her present! All of the stamps in this release are geared to birthdays, because we're celebrating Sister Stamps' first birthday.  However, they can all be used for almost ANY occassion. I made this Side Spring Card which I found on SCS. It was super easy to make. However, taking pictures of how it opened was a little hard, so I made a video too. The DP is from Glitz and it's from the French Kiss collection. The layered cardstock is from my stash, as well as the card base. Sentiments are from SU and punched out with SU punches. The baby pearls were also from my stash and the heart bling is from Recollections.

Be sure to head on over to Cami's blog next! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow! Until then, take care.