Last September post

Hey everyone!

Did you get a chance to stop by the Y&FH blog over the weekend?  We posted our winner & Top 3 on Saturday and revealed our new challenge and it's a fun photo inspiration/anything goes.  Head on over now so you can play along with us.  Click HERE to get started. :)

Today is the last day of September and I guess I'm sad about that.  It's usually the start of the Fall season and the end to Summer.  Don't get me wrong, I love Fall, getting to wear layers of clothes and pull out the Halloween decorations, a time to start shopping for the Thanksgiving dinner and then next thing you it's Christmas and a New Year starting.  Living in So Cal ya never know what the weather will be, but I look forward to more warmer weather for as long as we can have it.  As long as I have my fan & water, I'll be good.  hahaha. 

For my last September post I have a birthday card to share.  It's another CAS, which I have been leaning towards lately.  I saw this layout on Laura's blog and thought it was lovely.  Her using the plain card, with that pop of pretty paper and adorable image was perfect for what I wanted to accomplish.  Please make sure to stop by to see her beautiful card featuring Miyoko from Sister Stamps.   For my card I used Summer Yumi from our Hang Loose Collection.  (Both stamps can be purchased at the Yumi & Fumi online store.)

Happy Birthday with Summer Yumi

I had a good time with this one.  The paper helped with my color combo and adding the black butterflies tied it together nicely.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches and is always a favorite of mine.  I paper pieced Summer Yumi's top and using a Copic marker added some shadows.  Not a lot of crafters like to go towards kraft, but I really like using it, especially with the nice blacks and reds as accents.

Summer Yumi

This card is going to my co-worker who happens to be celebrating her birthday today.  Hope she likes it.  If you're reading this we'll probably be eating cake and ice-cream.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope your last day in September is a good one!!  Take care and maybe you'll see me back tomorrow.

Hugs,
Leanne

LFF #63 - Happy Belated Birthday Denice!!

Good morning!

Well this post is super late!  Supposed to be up a long time ago, but time got away from me!!  Eep!

Today over on the Y&FH blog several ladies from both Team Yumi & Team Fumi are sharing some belated birthday love for our wonderful creative sister, Denice.  Denice's birthday was a few weeks ago and we completely forgot to celebrate! :(  I know boo on us!  Today we're making up for it with a little mini showcase of birthday wishes and projects sure to make her smile and hopefully forgive us just a wee bit.  Stop by the blog for the showcase and then head on over to Denice's blog to leave her some birthday love!! 

Here is my LFF #63, dedicated to Denice...

Hi Denice,
So sorry I dropped the ball on celebrating your birthday.  I hope you enjoy the showcase and that you don't mind continuing the celebration for a few more days!  Thank you for all you do for us and for ALWAYS bringing a smile with each of your beautiful projects.  Happy belated Birthday my Virgo sista!  Hope you like this little "Peace offering"  hehehe...

Happy Birthday with Yumi Peace Sign

Pulled Yumi Peace Sign out and inked her up.  I know you like the colors green, aqua and orange so I tried to incorporate those colors in to your card.  I had a lot of fun with this one, and I hope you like it.  Many, many birthday blessings and happy wishes to you always.  Thank you for inspiring and always being a positive light of energy.  Hau' oli la Hanau my friend!  Hope you liked the surprise!  Hugs!!

Yumi Peace Sign

Alrighty folks, stop by the Y&FH blog to see the rest of the team shares and also see who our special guest is to help us celebrate and don't forget to stop by Denice's blog to do the same.  Mahalo for stopping by today.  Don't forget you still have until noon pst today to link up to our latest challenge.  Click HERE for more details.

Happy Aloha Friday!  Have a great weekend!!
Hugs,
Lilo

Dinner with Stamp Camp Friends

Good morning!

Last night a few friends from our disbanded stamp camp group got together for dinner.  We met up in Rowland Heights at a popular spot called MJ Café where we dined on lots of good Taiwanese/Chinese food and huge café style drinks.  We had not seen each other since right before our friend, Angie's second son was born.  He's now 6 months so it's been quite some time!  We picked up right where we left off having a good time and chatting away.  Angie's birthday was on September 2nd, so we had much to celebrate.  Here are some pictures of the food and the drinks...

^ That's Kathy up in the corner and
a shot of our food and some of the drinks

Here's my drink and I put it next to the
small bowl so you can see how big it was!!

Green Tea, salted caramel iced tea...
It was yum!

You might recognize a couple of people in the next two pictures...

Friends from stamp camp

On the left is Linda of Life of a Girlie Girl blog, behind her is Angie, me, across from me is Jen, next to her is Jenny from Sesame Bijoux on Etsy and next to her is Kathy from Pixie Boutique blog.  Sorry the picture is so blurry! Boo!!  Anyhoos, as you can see we pretty much demolished the food and our drinks.  hahaha!   Now remember I told you we were also celebrating Angie's birthday?  Well I made her a quick card featuring one of Glisten Bean from TGF. 

Happy... Bean-day!

I had so much fun coloring her blue hair!!  I kept the rest of the card super CAS.  On the inside of the card it says "...Birthday!"  For some subtle accents I added two butterflies and some black gems.  Love this one!

Glisten Bean - TGF (retired)

Stop by Linda's and Kathy's blogs to see what they've been up to and if you're in the market for some pretty sparklies head on over to Jenny's Etsy store.  Thank you for dropping by today!

Hugs,
Leanne

Challenges:
TGF GVT - Blue Raspberry
DTC CH #20 ATG
 

Visiting with Crafty Friends - Part II

Hello!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Yesterday I shared some pictures from my Hawaii vacation including a picture of my dinner date with Karen I and Jenny S.  I also shared a few pictures of the gifts I received from Karen as well as the frame I made for her.  If you didn't get a chance to see it just scroll down one post.  Today I am going to share another fun picture from dinner, my awesome gifts from Jenny and the frame I made for her.  First up is this picture of Jenny and Karen and their dinners...

Say "Cheese" with Jenny S. and Karen I.

Doesn't their food look ono?!  And check out the huge portions!  I think we all could have shared just the two dishes and we would have been fine.  hahaha.  Did I mention we were kindly asked to leave aka "kicked out" of our booth?  Well not sure if you can see way in the back, but there were plenty people waiting to eat dinner, and since we also had to wait a good 30 minutes for a table I didn't feel too upset with the server.  We probably could have kept on talking we were having such a good time.  Take a look at all the pretty crafty items I received from Jenny, including more laser cut words from Island Scrapbooking!  Hey, I'm easy! hahaha!

Crafty gifts from Jenny S ~ Oh Happy Day!

I can't wait to play with these.  She even wrapped some up in really cute paper with strips of washi tape that I plan on re-using.  Hey, I don't miss an opportunity to re-cycle when I can.  Especially when it's such cute stuff.  I even received a booklet from the Aulani!  I know she and her family recently visited, so I was pretty stoked to find something from there in my package.  Thank you so much Jenny for all the fun and gorgeous crafty supplies!!  I love everything!!  Including that beautiful bag.  I plan to do the same thing I am doing with all the lovely gifts from Karen, use them sparingly and only for special projects.  hehehe...  Here is the frame I altered featuring one of my favorite Sister Stamps images, Kiyomi.

(Altered frame) "Hey there" with Kiyomi (Sister Stamps)

Doesn't it look like Kiyomi is trying to pet the bird?  :)  I have to confess something.  I made the scene almost a year ago and wanted to send it to Jenny way back when!  The problem was, I couldn't figure out how to finish it!  hahaha!  It sat on my desk for the longest time asking to be finished but I just couldn't figure out how.  So I brought it with me to Hawaii as a card with the intention of giving it to her like that.  Then I found the frames and my brain took off in another direction.  Little did I know it was one that paid off!  I bought the pink washi paper and white pearl decorations along with the frame.  I did the same technique with this frame as I did with Karen's and the end result made my heart Happy, Happy, Happy! (lol)

Kiyomi (Sister Stamps)

The paper is from Paula Deen (yes Paula Deen has a crafts line as well as a cooking line) it's a small line, but a fun one.  The bird and birdcage are all Tim Holtz Sizzix dies.  I embossed the cage and then used distress inks to make it look shabby.  Added the pearls to the bottom of the cage for another touch of shabby.  As for the bird, I used an old Hero Arts background stamp over the pink paper.  I used a 3-D adhesive to pop up the wing outside the cage.  I am so pleased with how this turned out and it only took a year to figure it out!  Eep!! Better late than never. ^.^

Visiting with Crafty Friends, Jenny & Karen

And there you have it.  All the pictures rolled in to one fun collage.  I enjoyed sharing these pictures and the crafty projects and gifts that came with them.  Thanks again to Jenny and Karen for taking time of out their busy schedules to meet up with me.  Again I apologize to the ladies I didnt get a chance to meet up with.  Until next time...

Have a great day!

Hugs,
Leanne

Challenges:
Designed to Color: CH #20 Anything Goes
Craft My Life: Anything Goes All Crafts Challenge Aug/Sept

Visiting with Crafty Friends Part I

Morning!

Yep I'm back with another post!  So what do I have for you today?  Well I wanted to share some pictures from my recent trip to Hawaii and also share one of the altered frames I made while I was there.  I have one more frame to share but I think I'll wait til' tomorrow to do that.  While I was there I wanted to make sure that I could visit a couple of crafty friends.  Boy had I known there were more crafty friends living on the Big Island I would have made sure to hook up with them, but alas time ran out.  :(  I will make sure to visit with them next time I'm there.  I did have a chance to meet up with two wonderfully creative ladies, Jenny Sakamoto, owner and creative designer for Sister Stamps and Karen Inouye who is one creative crafty wahine.  It took us a while to figure out where we were going to meet up and when.  Both were super busy and worked full-time.  We finally decided on a time and place.  Here is a picture of the 3 of us at Hawaiian Style Cafe with our ginormous dinners!!  (BTW, stop by Karen's blog to see her post about our meet up, she really knows how to tell a story!)

Dinner with Jenny & Karen

We had a really nice time.  We laughed and talked until the waitress literally kicked us out!  Said they needed the table, and there was people waiting or something like that.  That has NEVER happened to me before!  Next time we're going somewhere where that won't happen!  (hahaha)  I guess it was good she stopped us cause it was getting late and both Karen & Jenny had to get up early for work the next day.  Let me see, if I remember correctly I had the Korean chicken with rice and mac salad; Karen had the small beef stew with rice and mac salad and Jenny ordered the fish and chips (no rice or mac salad - hahaha).  The portions were huge!! Yes we each took some leftovers home and I think one of my cousins ate mine.  (lol)


I brought them some goodies (omiyage) from California, but I wanted to make them each something fun.  That's where the frames came in to play.  So happy I found them at Ben Franklin!  Today I'm going to share the frame I made for Karen but before I do that I'm going to share the adorable projects she made for me and some of the lovely laser cut images she got me from Island Scrapbooking.

Altered paper bag with Yumi w/ Birdie & a cute treat holder with Shin-Shin from Sister Stamps

 She altered a green paper bag with a Yumi & Fumi Handmade image, Yumi with Birdie!!  I've never seen anything so pretty!  She had a lot of cute elements on the bag including some pretty flowers and butterflies.  Down below is a flower border which I believe is the die from TGF.  Inside the bag were some gorgeous paper dies that I had not seen when I went to IS!  So I was super excited to get them.  Next she created this really cute treat holder, which she mentioned is from a Sizzix die and she added the adorable Shin-Shin from Sister Stamps.  Isn't it adorable?  Especially with the bamboo and cute little yellow star button!  Squee!!  Not only did she give me goodies for crafting she gave me goodies to snack on.  Inside the treat holder was some Kashi bars...  They came in handy during the many trips we took around the island.  And below is a picture of all the goodies together...

Crafty gifts from Karen I ~ Happy Day!

Mahalo Karen for your thoughtfulness, I love all my gifts and plan to use these sparingly.  Yep only the special ones will get any of these on their cards. :)  Here is the frame I made for her.  I wanted to do an Asian themed frame and I had just picked up some washi paper, and cardstock along with some other items.  I chose to use Yumi with Fan and here's what I came up with...

Altered frame with Yumi w/ Fan

The frame, washi paper, gems, clear beads (on the flowers) and doily were all purchased at Ben Franklin.  The rest are all from Island Scrapbooking and of course Yumi w/ Fan is mine.  I used mod podge, glue dots and 3-D adhesive to adhere some parts down.  Once everything was to my satisfaction I used an irredescent spray that had a nice pretty and subtle shimmer to it from the same brand as Mod Podge.  I need to go buy me a can since I left the one I bought in Hawaii.  I love how it not only sealed the project but gave it a real pretty shimmer without taking away from any of the colors.  Too bad you can't see it, but it's there.  I'm so happy that Karen liked it and feel honored that she has it up in her craft room.  hehe...  As Phil Robertson, from Duck Dynasty, would say, "Happy, Happy, Happy!"

Yumi w/ Fan

I'll be back tomorrow with the other frame that I made for Jenny and a couple more pictures.  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a nice day!

Hugs,
Leanne

Challenges:
Designed to Color: CH #20 Anything Goes
Craft My Life: Anything Goes Aug/Sept

Yumi & Fumi Handmade - CH #24 Reminder

Good morning everyone!!

It's been a while, but today I am jumping in with Team Fumi as we send out a reminder to you about our current challenge...

CHALLENGE #24

CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER?

MAKE A CHRISTMAS TAG

Stop by the Y&FH blog today to see the beautiful projects from Team Fumi and last week's beautiful projects created by Team Yumi.  You have until Friday at noon to link up your Christmas tag and we're excited to see it.  This also gives you a chance to start on some Christmas projects.  Our challenge is just a tag, and we all know that tags can make the bag or gift extra special.  I for one was happy to start on my Christmas tags, especially because I am the worst procrastinator!!  Who else is a procrastinator?  Come on I know I'm not the only one!  hahaha!  Well you think about and let me know I'd really dislike being the only one up at 2am making tags or Christmas cards days before the big event.  (haha)

Here's my tag featuring an image that I have not seen anyone use yet... Hope you like... Say "hello" to Winter Fumi.  ^.^ 

Winter Fumi Christmas tag

I tried a new photo program and the white splotches are part of the border.  Doesn't it look like someone threw snow?  (lol)  Next time I won't blur out the picture so much, you can't see any of the details at the bottom.  Now in my opinion this little gal doesn't get a lot of ink time so I thought she deserved some love and here she is.  After coloring her up with Copics, I decided to go super CAS with the tag and also a bit non-traditional.  I used a Merry Christmas embossing folder on the craft cardstock and adhered it to a plain white cardstock.  Next I used a corner punch to make it look more like a tag.  Added some silver braided ribbon to the top of the craft cardstock to hide the border.  Next up I added some silver holly and instead of adding berries I chose that pretty Prima flower.  I added the same silver braided ribbon to the bottom of the tag and another holly leaf under her left foot.  To round it out I added three blue gems on the bottom left corner.

Well that's all I have for today.  It's good to be back at the coloring and creating even if it's for something as small as a tag.  I can't wait to make something else.  For now I hope you'll join us for this challenge.  We've got a lot of new rules that make it a lot easier for you to join.  To see the new updates head to the Yumi & Fumi Handmade page and view the CHALLENGE INFO tab.

And if you're wondering if you can make a card, well the answer is yes, but to qualify you have to have a tag somewhere on your card.  Hope that make it a lot easier to play.  Several of our team incorporated tags in to their Christmas themed cards and boy are they adorable!  Stop by the blog and check them out.   Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I appreciate it!

Have a wonderful and crafty fun Sunday!
Hugs,
Leanne

Challenges I'm entering:
Crafty Ribbons: CH #62 Anything goes with ribbon
OneCrazyStamper.com: September Christmas challenge
Melonheadz Friends: Tag It 
Designed to Color: Anything Goes

Kitty Bee Designs Mid Inspiration - CH #8

Good morning and Happy Aloha Friday!

Today myself and the rest of Team Bees are sharing our mid-inspirations for the current challenge at Kitty Bee Designs:

CHALLENGE #8 - WATER

Stop by the blog today and see the fun inspirations from the rest of my teammates.  They are sure to make you smile.  Here's my mid-inspiration featuring some adorable squid:

Underwater fun - Kitty Bee Designs

I totally enjoyed making this one.  Looks like my mojo woke up a little bit. hahaha!  I went with another CAS with some sparkle and fun.  Grabbed one of my favorite embossing folders and some Distress inks in blues, greens and purples.  Love how the bubbles from the ink turned out.  Bonus! hahaha!  I printed out smaller versions of the squid and randomly glued them around the bigger squid.  Each one is colored with Copic markers using the same colors (B91, BV20, BV000, RV55, R20).  I added some iridescent glitter and random metallic flowers to the bottom to give it some fun sparkle.  The sentiment was handwritten.

Okay now it's your turn to share your "water" themed projects with us over at Kitty Bee Designs.  Link up your project HERE for a chance to win some cute digis.  Remember to follow our rules to become eligible. 

Mahalo for stopping by today.  Have a terrific Aloha Friday!

Hugs,

Leanne

KBD - Challenge #8 "Water"

Happy Aloha Friday everyone!!

Hope you are all doing well.  It's taken me some time, but I'm slowly getting back to blogging and crafting. Who knew it would take that long to recover from vacation?!  Not me, that's for sure. hahaha!  It's good to be back.  Today there is a new challenge up at Kitty Bee Designs!!  Woo Hoo, that means if I'm posting today the rest of Team Bees are as well.

CHALLENGE #8 - WATER

Create a project with water as your theme

Stop by the Kitty Bee Designs blog to see some cute water themed projects created by the talented Team Bees.  Here's my card featuring an adorable Kitty Bee crab hangin' ten out in the ocean.

Dude... Sweet ride

Duuuude!!  Sweet ride!!  I love this little crab!!  I think this was inspired from my trip to Hawaii.  I thought it would be fun to have that adorable crab surfing the big waves.  After coloring the crab and the long-board, I fussy cut them both out, glued down the long-board first and then using 3-D foam squares popped the crab on top of the board.  For some more cuteness I glued on two fun googly eyes.  The sentiments are from the Tiki-Surf stamp set from Yumi & Fumi Handmade.

Kitty Bee Crab 

Hope you'll join us for this really easy and fun challenge.  Can't wait to see what "water" theme you feature in your project.  Mahalo for stopping by!!  Have a great day and a fabulous weekend!

Hugs,
Leanne

Who's surprising who? (LOL)

Good morning and Happy September!!

Yay! My very own Renate' Winter banner!! Isn't it kawaii?!! Si!  Had to add it to my b-day post! :)

It's my birthday today and there are a few sneaky fabulous ladies who are throwing me a surprise birthday blog hop on the Yumi & Fumi Handmade blog!  Yep, I accidentally found out about it when today's scheduled challenge post did not go live!  Needless to say I figured out why the post was not up and just how sneaky my teams and friends can be!  Gotta love them all, which I do!!  But I got the last laugh I think.  hehehe...  Popping in to say Thank you in advance for the wonderful surprise from all that participated in the hop.  You all touched my heart with your wonderful creations and definitely brightened up my day even more than it already will be.  So on my behalf...  Arigato!

Altered wooden picture frame featuring Fumi with Gift

While I was in Hawaii I spent some time at the local art supply store, Ben Franklin and a local scrapbook store, Island Scrapbooking. There I was able to pick up a few crafty items to play with from each store.  This awesome wooden frame was purchased at BF.  I also purchased the beautiful washi paper, mod podge, and mod podge spray and Bo Bunny pearls from there. The die cut sentiment and some of the small flowers were purchased from IS.  What a cute little store and the owner Michele is so awesome! If you ever get the chance and you're in Hilo, stop by her shop and check out all the cute items available for purchase.  You'll also see some very familiar projects inside.  Wish I could have spent a little more time to look around.  Yep after 4 trips I still think I could have looked around and found more fun stuff to buy! hahaha!

Anyhoos, I had so much fun altering this frame.  I actually went back to BF and bought a few more to bring back home.  I'll share the other two frames I made soon.  But thought I would get the jump on my team and let them know how much I appreciate their wonderful surprise with a surprise of my own! hahaha!!

Thank you ladies from the bottom of my heart!!  It's truly wonderful and thoughtful and I can't wait to hop around!  Please stop by the blog to check out the hop and please stop by everyone's blog and leave them some love, like I plan to later today.  *Who knows there might be a random give-a-way from me! :)

Fumi with Gift

To everyone celebrating today... Happy Birthday!!  May it be blessed and wonderful!

Hugs,

Leanne