LFF #89: READY? 1,2,3...

Hello!

A reminder that you have a week left to link up your project to our current "Sew Cute" (faux or real stitching on your project) challenge over at the Aloha Friday Challenge blog, HERE.  Today the second half of the Bees team are sharing their mid-inspirations HERE.  If you're stuck on the theme then make sure to stop by and be inspired.

Today for Lilo's Fun Friday #89 I have a fun birthday card to share with you.  My mojo was flowing with this card, yay!!  hehehe.

Front of the card

This is the front of the card featuring the adorable Turtle set from Sister Stamps, a fun vintage Aloha print paper, laser cut flowers from Island Scrapbooking and some fun stitched speech bubbles relaying a message...  Next up is the inside of the card which relays the rest of the message... and look how excited this turtle is to shout out "Happy Birthday!!"  hehehe, so kawaii!!  >.<  The HB sentiment is also a laser cut word from Island Scrapbooking.  Boy do these come in handy!  I wish the store was a lot closer to me or visa versa.  hahaha!  Luckily they now have an online Etsy store so if I need any more laser cut designs I don't have to fly all the way there to buy some, although that does sound like a nice reason to go.  hahaha!

Inside the card

I loved this card so much that I really wanted to keep it!  Instead I handed it over to my friend/co-worker so that she could give it to her son to give to his teacher for her birthday today.  This is the same teacher I made the teacher's day project for here.  Because she's from Hawai'i I felt it was ok to use the turtles for her birthday card.  Did you notice that I inked up the turtles in blue and not black or brown ink?  Yep, I thought it would be fun to experiment for an underwater affect especially if it made them blend with that pretty vintage paper.  Mission accomplished!  I had fun coloring and fun-cutting them all out.

These are some happy happy turtles and they make for a fun birthday card.  Thank you mojo for showing up in the nick of time.  hahaha!   Mahalo for stopping by, have a great Aloha Friday!!

Happy, Totes Anya - Back to Basics

Hello!

Today's share is another CAS card with some fun blue-green colors and the adorable Totes Anya from The Greeting Farm.

I decided that I need to go back to crafting basics if I want to give my mojo some kind of jump start. I find that when you are in a rough patch going back to the basics usually works.  So far so good.  (hahaha)  My goals for this card were simple.  Go with a simple layout (check); try to use up some old cardstock I haven't touched in years (check) and to try to have fun with the process (check).  Mission accomplished.  Now I can stick this in my cardstash and go on to the next project.  I'm gonna take it one day at a time...  Not such a bad goal.  Thanks for letting me ramble on!!  Have a great day!

From the Heart, Thanks!

Hello!

Hope you all had a very nice and relaxing weekend.  I had wanted to put up this card in honor of Memorial day, but didn't finish until late in the day.  Now it's almost the end of another day. (hahaha)  Better late than not at all right?  =]

Using the cool Sun Ray background & Many Thanks dienamics from MFT, plus a punched heart, I created this pretty cool Thank you card.  I love how quick and easy this was to put together.  Another pretty card to add to my stash and I'm thinking I could possibly put together a few more of these with different colors.  Hmmm... something to think about especially since my mojo is slowly coming back.  Yay!!  Thank you for the vote of confidence it's really heartwarming especially since ya'll are cranking out some major amazing cards.  You are all my motivation!!  Thanks! ^.^

You color my world

Hello!

Happy Sunday!  Today I have a fun simple card using some scraps and flowers.  Totally not my style, but it was fun to come up with something to use up the scraps.

My mojo is slowly coming back, and I'm going to take advantage of the long weekend to slowly coax it back from vacay.  lol.  Hope you're all having an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!  Happy crafting!

Aloha Friday Challenge #48 - Sew cute

Happy Aloha Friday everyone!

Today starts a brand new challenge over at the Aloha Friday Challenge blog.  Thank you all so much for joining in our last challenge.  Hope you'll link up again as this one is a pretty easy one too.  Here are a few details for the next two weeks:

CHALLENGE #48

SEW CUTE

Create a project/card using real or faux stitching

Sponsor: Dillybeans 

There are lots of ways to play.  You can use the many dies out there that have different stitch patterns, you can also use markers, to create a nice faux stitch.  There are just too many options, just make sure that you're following the theme.  For even more details on our sponsor, Dillybeans, and their generous prize head on over to the AFC blog and while you're there check out the rest of the Bees' inspiration.

For this challenge I thought Kitty Sewing by KBD was the purrfect image to use.  I decided to go with some dies that have stitched patterns in them, including the border die from MFT, the other stitched bracket die, By DIEzyne, to cut out my image has a nice stitched border, and the buttons border die from LLLC tied it all together.  The sentiment, swatch die and scissors are also from LLLC.  I used scraps of DCWV patterned paper to make the swatches. love the different patterns on each of the swatches.  The sentiment makes me smile.

Now it's your turn to come and play.  Link up your "sew cute" project HERE and don't forget to stop by to leave some love for my teammates.  Speaking of teammates, if you haven't heard we increased our team to include a few new crafters.  Click HERE to see who our new teammates are for the rest of the year.  We're all very excited to have them join our teams!  With that happy news shared I'll sign off.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy Aloha Friday and Happy Memorial Day weekend, enjoy!!

What's Up? Dog day afternoon...

Hello!

Wow, it's been a few days since I last posted!  Life has gotten a bit more busy and I've been less active in the creative realm.  I don't know if it's the weather or the long hours at work, but there seems to be no interest in creating when I get home, it's as if my mojo has gone on vacation.  Sigh!

I realized that I never posted about this project I made for one of my friends.  It's actually a watercolor/die cut scene/portrait...

Obviously some of my mojo was working here.  hahaha!  I started out with the blue backdrop using gelatos and water on some Canson water color paper.  I believe the cute dog flying over the city is Silver from Tiddly Inks Flying High clear stamp set.  My friend has a dog, who resembles Silver a bit so I tried to color him the same.  I used multiple dies from LLLC and MFT to create this scene.  I also used a word backgroud stamp from MFT for the buildings and the tree.  Love the effect, it kinda looks like I used a newspaper.

I need to put this in some kind of frame so for now it's with me until I finish it.  I did show it to my friend and she loved it.  Yay!!  Here's a look at the annual birthday card I made, another adorable image of Silver and I actually decorated the envelope!

The sentiments on the card are from Paper Smooches.  Oh and in the background some wispy clouds made with Distress Inks.  Maybe this will jump start my mojo?!  We shall see!  I might need to go-around to everyone's blogs too, so I'll be sure to hop on the ole' computer when I get home to do some hopping!  Well breaks over, I better get back to "work".  Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mothers Day

Hello!

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.  It was quite hectic here at our house, that's why I wasn't able to post these on Sunday.  My sis, her DH and their puppy, Sebastian, drove down for the weekend.  My older brother also came home.  It was nice to have everyone at the house.  My older brother cooked a late lunch and then it was soon after that my sis and her little family had to drive home.  While she was here she made my mom a beautiful, queen sized wreath!  My sister is pretty amazing when it comes to designing wreaths.  I'll share the one she made at the end of my post.

These were the mother's day cards I made for my mom & sister.  For the first two cards I had some fun with Distress Inks, watercolor paper, water, a Copic multi-liner and a white gel pen.  This first card I added a sentiment stamp from Taylored Expressions.

I wasn't really sure what I was going for here with the red blobs.  (hahaha)  Some of them turned in to cute hearts, others not so much so I made them in to a bunch of roses, the others I added white hearts.  Totally random, but I love how it turned out.  This next card was really fun to make, again not knowing the outcome of what I was doing I just went with it.

I was sooo surprised & happy after finishing this one.  Again not knowing what the red blobs would turn in to I decided roses would be fun.  The sentiment was cut from the Cricut.  This next one was a spur of the moment card, but I love it!

I used the cut sentiment from the 2nd card and Distress ink to create the cloudy message.   Keeping it CAS I added the tropical flowers using some stamps from MFT, I believe this set might be retired, Tropical Sensations.  The With Love sentiment is also in this set.  Hmmm thinking this layout might not be so bad for some other CAS cards.  Something to think about...  =D

Before I sign off here's the beautiful wreath my sis made...

IRL the flowers look so real!  Love her use of burlap, colored wire, Aloha fabric wire ribbon and those gorgeous flowers.  It's truly beautiful and HUGE!!  Now to find a the perfect spot for it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! 

LFF #88 - An early Mother's Day

Happy Aloha Friday!!

Today for LFF #88 I made these cute little tags for my co-workers:

These were super easy to make and a lot of fun to give away.  Especially to those that have never received anything from me before.  I made enough for the ladies that were actually in the office today, the rest will receive theirs on Monday.  [They are all in Hawaii at a "conference", so they can wait. hahaha!]  Here is a close-up of one of the tags:

I love coming up with small little tags like these for the co-workers.  First I cut a bunch of the rolled roses with my awesome MFT die using some older K&Company double sided paper.

Love the effect the double sided paper gives.   I cut up 3 or 4 different sheets of paper and it only took about 10 minutes to roll all of them up.  The rest was done in no time.  Glad I had that leaf stamp, which I purchased from crafty friend, Eva, (Hi Eva!).  It was big enough for the tag and adding the single rose was perfect.  I found that ribbon in my stash and loved how the colors matched the flowers.  I only cut a small strip, glued it down and then used a stapler to give it a little metal touch.

I finished these up during lunch and was able to hand them out before everyone left for the day.  They were all smiles and happy.  Which made me happy.  Glad I could add a smile to their day.  I love this tag, think I'll make more for other occasions.  If you're interested in seeing what other stamps and dies Eva is selling hop on over to her blog and check it out.  Happy Aloha Friday friends, wishing all the Mom's an early Happy Day!!  Mahalo for stopping by!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

Hello!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo and also Happy National Teacher's Day!

My co-worker asked me to make her a last minute gift for her son's teacher.  Yes, last minute as in I got the request around 7pm yesterday and I was still at work!  Eek!  So of course I had to think of something.  I had envisioned something simple, but thought it would be fun to go a little bit more.  After a few hours of procrastination I finally had an idea and started to work on it.  This is the end result...

It all started with an oldie from TGF, a large clothes pin, some doilies and a white pen.  Of course there was a banner involved and some black cardstock to make a nice chalkboard sign.  All the sentiments and words were handwritten and I'm so proud I did not sacrifice any more paper than what you see here.  YAY!

This is the back of the project.  Used a larger doily and a black scalloped circle for my blackboard.  I found this quote on the web.  Google to the rescue.  I even tried to handwrite it just like the banner.  Added another banner with a different word and a shiny red apple.

How about a side view since you can't really tell what it is straight on or from behind?  Yep a humongous red clothes pin that I picked up at Michael's possibly in February.  I finally dusted it off and made something with it.  Woo Hoo!!  Now Pasha's teacher can easily put a picture or a card in the slot at the top.

Thought this tag would make a fun addition to the project and Oliver was the perfect "Pasha" in my opinion.  I found that tag in my desk drawer, talk about SCORE!!  I changed out the sentiment and wrote Special Delivery.  All done!

What it would look like if a picture or in this case the tag would look like inside the top slot.  Yay!  Ok, if I sound a bit loopy it's because I'm literally running on a few hours of sleep.  I'll sign off now, but first I'd like to share this funny teacher quote I was considering on using instead of the one I ended up with.

"Teachers: without them, we wouldn't know how to read, write or CORRECT everyone else's grammar."   

This is soooo Pasha!!  hehehe..  Well that's all for today, thanks to you for stopping by.  I really appreciate the time you take to share your thoughts.  I really look forward to them.  Have a great Cinco de Mayo.... boy I really need a siesta!!  =D

May Spotlight at Kitty Bee Designs

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday and happy 1st Monday of the month.  Today I'm sharing this birthday card, over at the Kitty Bee Designs blog.

May begins a month of birthdays for me, so trying to come up with something simple yet cute was my goal here.  I think I nailed it.  This cutie is Cupcake Surprise Pup and boy was I happily surprised to find him in the Etsy store.  He's available for purchase and while you're there why not pick up a few more cute images to go along with him?   Just sayin'... hahaha!

Make sure you stop on by to see and join our current challenge.  Have a great Monday & thanks so much for stopping by to see what project I have to share!!  Bye for now!

Have a delicious day!

Hello!

May is a busy birthday month for yours truly, I know at least 3 loved ones who celebrated theirs on the 1st alone, including my mama.  Here's another birthday card to add to my "done, but need to mail" list, featuring Bake me some Love Wryn from Tiddly Inks.

It's been so very long since I inked up a Wrynn, and seeing a sale at the TI store was too hard to resist.  hahaha!  I might have printed her out a bit too large for what I had in mind, but I think it worked out well.  I used some new dies: MFT dienamics blueprints 24 & MFT background grid stamp and rounding out the rest of the card are an embossed background, a doily, and the fun speech bubble with sentiment.  The colors are bright and fun and I think the person I have in mind for this card will enjoy it.  Alrighty, a few done but so more to go, better get to it!

Hope you're all having a nice Sunday!  Take care and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Challenge(s):
Tiddly Inks Challenge: So Sweet - woo hoo! Top 3 results

Happy Birthday Mom!

Good morning!

This is the birthday card I made for my mom who celebrated her "22nd" birthday yesterday!  hahaha!  I used the exclusive newsletter, Gift Mermaid Anya, from The Greeting Farm and some beautiful new dies I just received in my April La-La Land Crafts club kit!!   Also included are one of my favorite Sizzix embossed backgrounds and a laser cut sentiment from Island Scrapbooking.  I have to admit I had no idea what this would look like in the end, but I'm so happy with the outcome.  Lucky for me I already had the mermaid colored up and using a few Copic markers the flowers were done in no time.  Used Tumbled Glass DI for the backdrop.  Here are a few more pictures from last night...

Dinner at Ai's a Japanese restaurant my parents like to go to

The birthday cake with only 1 candle

yum tasty!

Tulips and a Mermaid

We also got her a mini iPad so now she can face-time with her sisters and friends.  All-in-all a wonderful day to celebrate a wonderful lady.  Okie dokes, sorry to cut this short but I have a lot to do today so I'll stop right here.  Thanks for stopping by, have a fabulous Saturday!!

Challenges:
TGF FFF: Flowers
Loves Rubberstamps: Use 2 dies