Secret Sister Swaps - Catching up!

Hello!!

I'm back to share some swaps & RAKS that a couple of friends made for me for our Secret Sister Swap.  So glad that Kathy resurrected it, it's a small group, but because we know each other it's all the more fun to not only give but receive.  If you're interested in joining the group leave me a comment with your email address and I'll ask her to add you to the one for January.

This post is gonna be choke full of pictures.  First up is my swap from Colleen Kwan.

The theme was Fall and boy did she nail it or what?!!  Loved her bright adorable card and the extras she included.  You can read all the details on her blog post here.  Thank you so much Colleen for the perfect Fall swap!!  I'm so glad we're reconnecting after not seeing each other for so long.  I see you're still busy, but glad you are still cranking out some amazing crafts.

This next one is going to be full of pictures with some commentation.  Karen Inouye was my secret swap partner for November and OMG she went totally nuts!!  hahaha!  She spoiled me rotten with all the beautiful handmade RAKs she sent.  It was like opening a Christmas gift that was never ending.  The pictures are of course in the order that I opened the box, which incidentally was a sweatshirt sized box from Pacsun!!  She recently posted HERE, so please go over and leave her some love.

PACSUN sweatshirt box

Inside what do I see, but an Island Scrapbooking canvas tote, sqweeeeee!!

Underneath the newspaper was another handmade canvas tote from a familiar site!!

First I opened the IS mini tote to see what was inside....

Inside was an adorable RAK, some gems, ribbon, a zipper pull die and some handmade HK items Karen purchased from Jenny Sakamoto from Sister Stamps.  Jenny was selling these handmade altered HK compacts and I believe the clothes pins, although they might have been made by someone else.  I honestly don't remember if Jenny made them or not.  But WOW right?!  And noooo it doesn't stop there...  Check out this amazingly altered mini canvas bag which Karen bought at one of Jenny's craft fairs.  It's gorgeous!!  I know Jenny posted a video of it, so please go check out Jenny's YT channel here if you're not a subscriber then your missing out.  You can also drop by her blog or Sister Stamps blog which is also where she's been posting her vids.

Handmade/Altered canvas bag by Jenny (OMG!!)

Close up of the bag, Look at that gorgeous flower she made and that lace trim!!

Always a professional touch, the lace goes all the way around. Beautiful

Inside the bag was an altered notebook and some pens.  This is the perfect gift for anyone, I'm so lucky that it came to me!! :) 

Next up was the Macy's box.  I honestly didn't think there was anything more, but I was wrong!

As soon as I opened the package I saw Karen's adorable card featuring a LMM stamped image.  It is sooo super cute and I loved her message.

Inside the Macy's box...

Here is the card up close.

Adorable Thanksgiving card featuring a LMM image. Love it!

Isn't it gorgeous?!  She is probably one of the only ones I know who has a ton of dies, definitely I think more than me.  We've joked that between the two of us we could open our own store! hahaha... Loved her card and all the details.  And look she added frantage!!  hehehe, sorry I am easily excited to see that. hehehe..

Close-up of LMM Image and the frantage!! 

Just underneath, packaged oh so carefully, was this beautiful calendar that I recognized.

I opened it to find this beautiful 2015 calendar.  Another creation by Jenny which was sold at one of her craft fairs.  Wow, it's beautiful!!  She has taken shabby chic to another level.  Glad I get to enjoy it. :)  And I know exactly where I will put it up at work.  She really outdid herself here.

2015 Shabby Chic calendar by Jenny

And so did Karen!  Wow, I am beyond overwhelmed with happiness!!  Karen is not only a very talented crafter, she's also a wonderful person, and I'm not just saying that because of this amazing swap.  She is truly a gem.  I was fortunate enough to meet her via blogland and then had the pleasure of meeting her in person last year on my trip to the Big Island.  She's so funny and sweet and super super generous.  You should definitely visit her blog daily, she's always posting something fun that she created or sharing yummy pictures of food.  So happy to call her friend.
 
Thank you soooo much Karen for the wonderful goodies!!  The fact that they are all mostly handmade/altered make them even more special.  When you give handmade items, even though you didn't make them, you give them from the heart, and for that I am very thankful.  Thanks again my fun-cutting & sale swap sister!!  (hahaha)

Okie dokes, better get going, I have to get to work, but I wanted to share this awesome post with beautiful gifts from Colleen, Karen and indirectly Jenny.  Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Just a note ~ Wild Child Fox

Hey everybody!!

**I was blessed to see this project on the Wow'd Me Wednesday post at TGF!

I want to give a quick shout out and send a huge prayer to my ohana and friends on the BIG ISLAND & the other Hawaiian Islands as they await the hurricane/tropical storms.  Stay safe and stay strong!!

Today I have another calendar/card combo for another co-worker who's last day was Wednesday.  It's so sad to say good-bye but when the job isn't working for you then it's time to say adios!  When I first met Matt I thought to myself a real life anime character works here!  hehehe! BTW, in my book I think that's awesome!  So when I thought about what I would make I thought it would be fun to go with a fun image that wasn't necessarily an anime character but you would probably see at an anime convention.  While I was wracking my brain over this I just happened to be looking for a punch when I came across my untouched Wild Child stamp set from The Greeting Farm and a light bulb went off in my head!

I have always loved the Wild Sprouts and was sooo happy when this set hit the store!  I guess you could say I saved this one for a good reason.  Getting to this card, I picked fox colors and had fun coloring him up!  I pulled the colors for the rest of the card from the colored image.  The papers are from last years Recollections Haunted Manor Halloween stack, but I thought some of the papers could work for a non-Halloween project.  The card is a bit bigger than the normal A2 card because the image itself plus the calendar totally dominated the base.  Used the TH postage stamp die again.  Here's a couple close-ups...

Made this banner free-hand, and used the TH postage stamp die for the top part.  After distressing it a bit and gluing it down I punched two holes and looped in the mandarin & white twine.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches...  Here's the inside, thought a simple thanks was in order for all the help Matt gave...

Yep, thanks to this card by Sister Stamps owner Kiki Sakamoto which enabled me to buy that Winnie & Walter sentiment stamp set.  It's actually pretty awesome!  I anticipate many uses with it.  Thanks Kiki!!

This was so much fun to make, can't wait to ink up the girly Wild Child next, hopefully not as a going away gift but for a happy occasion.   Until then, have a great day and to my Hawai'i peeps stay safe, will be praying for a safe passage for you folks!  Mahalo for stopping by!

Supplies:
WS Wild Child - The Greeting Farm
"Just a Note" sentiment - Paper Smooches
"Of Thanks" sentiment - Winnie & Walter
Kraft cardstock - Recollections
Polka dot and chevron patterned paper - Recollections Haunted Manor 4x6 stack
Striped patterned paper - Basic Grey
Tim Holtz postage stamp die - Sizzix
Calendar (2014-2015) - Taylored Expressions
Mandarin & White twine - The Twinery
Walnut Stain Distress ink - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Copics:

• Hoodie: YR14, E35, YR15, YR24, E000, N7
• Hair: N10, B45, B05
• Skin: E000, E21, E51
• Shirt: N7, N5, N1
• Pants: N7, B05
• Shoes: N5

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

Y&FH Hang Loose Previews ~ Summer Fumi

SALE ALERT! In honor of Father's Day all Yumi & Fumi Handmade guy stamps are now on sale until Father's day! Head on over to the Y&FH online store and pick up a few.  *Sister Stamps are not part of this sale.

Aloha and welcome to day two of previews at Yumi & Fumi Handmade.  Make sure to stop back each day this week to see the previews and on Saturday you'll be able to purchase the whole release.  We're excited to share this release with you and we hope you enjoy it.  Today we're spotlighting Summer Yumi's friend, Summer Fumi.  Today Eva, Sandie and I have cards to share so be sure to stop by Eva's blog and Sandie's blog then head on over to the Y&FH blog where you'll find out how you might be able to pick up this stamp.  Here's my card using the ink in the embossing folder technique.

Summer Fumi reminds me of my little cousin.  Always smiling and flashing the shaka sign.  She looks like a little hapa girl here.  I love her!  I decided to go with another CAS card and used a few distress ink pads and inked up the negative side of the embossing folder.  I ran the folder, with the paper, through my Cuttlebug and got that impression.  Next I went over the raised side with brown ink so that only the flowers were inked.  It looks like patterned paper yea?  It's not, just some white cardstock, an embossing folder and some inks.  Love how this turned out and definitely plan to do the same with other colors. The sentiment is a laser cut one from Island Scrapbooking and I was a lucky recipient of it from a cool RAK, thanks Jenny!  I colored the sentiment with Copics and thought it looked cool, almost like koa wood.

Stop by the Yumi & Fumi Handmade blog to see how you can win Summer Fumi.  And if you didn't link up yesterday for a chance to win Summer Yumi do so now.  You have until Sunday, June 16th at 10am but better to do it now than later, you might forget!  (haha)  Ok, thanks so much for stopping by today!  Tomorrow is day 3 of previews and should be a fun one.  Until then have a terrific day!!

\nm/,
Leanne

LFF #61 ~ Hugs, Shin-Shin

Hey everyone!

Happy Aloha Friday!!  Hope you are all excited for the weekend.  I know I am!  :)

This is going to be a short one today.  (yay)  For Lilo's Fun Friday #61, my card is a simple one featuring one of the new images from Sister Stamps again, Shin-Shin.  I had a small piece of kraft cardstock, left over from yesterday's project annd since the embossing project was still fresh in my mind I used the same bamboo folder & bamboo leaves ink to make a similar looking background.  I tried to case the adorable shaker card that Jenny, owner of Sister Stamps created for this release.

I purchased a bunch of washi tape last week and now have quite a stash.  (woo hoo!)  One of the purchases was that woodgrain looking one.  Love it!!  I used two cuttlebug embossing folders, the woodgrain one and the bamboo one.  The technique for the embossing was fun to do.  To see the technique scroll down to my previous post.  This actually looks really cool IRL.  I thought it would be fun to keep in with the green theme so I inked up Shin-Shin in the same ink and colored using different shades of green. He's glowing!  (hahaha)  Fussy cut him out and then glued him down.  Stamped "hugs" on the top corner with a Paper Smooches sentiment.  Then I created the pocket for the shaker card.  After pouring in some beads and two punched green 5 petal flowers I closed it up, mounted it on to the woodgrain embossed cardstock with foam squares and then glued to the dark brown cardstock.

Okie dokie that's all I have for today.  Mahalo for stopping by!  I always appreciate your visits, makes my day even brighter. :)  Have a fabulous Friday!!

Hugs,
Lilo

Challenge: Oozak.com Earth Tones (2nd submission)

Mother Day Card - Washi tape Shaker card

Hello!

I have been seeing a fair amount of these really cute washi tape shaker cards popping up on some of my favorite blogs.  The first time I saw it was on Debi's blog, then I saw it on the Sister Stamp's blog during their release showcase and let me tell you they were very cute and inspiring!  I especially loved how easy it looked to make and no use of dimensional tape was a plus!!  The only problem for me is that I have a limited amount of washi tape that would be fun to use.  So I guess I'll have to make a trip to Michael's to buy some.  Darn and they had them on sale about two weeks ago!  Figures! hahaha!   Thanks for inspiring Debi and Jenny!!   Here is the link to the tutorial and I have to say I really enjoyed listening to Julie share how she made her cards, she's got a really infectious laugh!

Because I really wanted to try this over the weekend, I think it turned out ok.  I now wish I would have embossed the background!  It's just too plain even with the bright green flower.  Oh well.  I do have to say it was really easy to do it this way than the old fashioned way.  Because you can reposition the washi tape to get it just right.  The only set back I see is you can't really put too many dimensional items in the pocket, they tend to get stuck.  Like the wooden butterfly in the pocket?  It gets stuck in the corners so you kinda have to whack the card to loosen it. hahaha!  All-in-all a fun idea!!  And I am happy to report that my beads that I bought years ago are finally getting used!  Woo Hoo! The sentiment stamp is by AmyR.  Love that script!  The flowers inside were all punched.  Sending this one to my grandmother for Mother's Day.  I'll probably do a few more of these for my co-workers and friends but probably at a much smaller scale.

Thanks for stopping by today.  So wish I wasn't at work today.  It's been a gloomy couple of days with rain and it would be much nicer to be at home working on some cards instead of at work. LOL!!  Where ever you are hope you're having a great day!

xx
Leanne
  

Happy Birthday Kim!!

Good morning everyone!!

Today is Kim Yu's birthday and a few of us are celebrating her special day.  Make sure to stop by the Yumi & Fumi Handmade blog to see what the rest of the DT created and see which special guests are also participating.

When I first met Kim it was while she was on the TGF DT.  Little did I know that I would also be on the same team just at different times.  We also had a chance to work at Winter CHA and became fast friends. I have been a follower of her blog since I started mine.  She's an amazing crafter and a dedicated mom.  Always so creative and very generous.  I was so happy to find out that she lived so very close that we could possibly hang out and since then we've been able to meet up for lunch. Hoping to one day get a craft session going with her. I would definitely love to see her put something together.

I chose Fumi with Gift from Yumi & Fumi Handmade for my card and papers from BG Plumeria.

This card is pretty huge! It's actually a little over 6x6!  That's huge! I didn't want to break up that pretty paper so kept it as is.  As you can see I used a bunch of Spellbinders and punches. I kept it pretty simple.  Just layered up papers.  Oh I did add that punched border on the side, a tag is under that big bow and some hoarded lace to the top for a little girly touch.  There are some embossed parts too which tie into our current challenge at Y&FH.  See that sentiment?  I got that from Jenny.  It's perfect for my card because of the pretty pink color and well the sentiment.

Make sure to stop by Kim's blog and wish her a Happy Birthday.  Also make sure to stop by the Y&FH blog to see the rest of the team's birthday shares.

Wishing you all the best today and always Kim!! Happy Birthday friend!!

Have a great day everyone and Mahalo for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Leanne  

Here's Akemi

Hello everyone!!

Here is the last of the cards I made for our booth at the Rubber Stamp Convention in March but didn't get to share until now.  Using the images from Sister Stamps release #6 here is Akemi with Daba and that familiar little bunny.  I think it's the most colorful out of the three and I really had fun creating the scene.

All the pink you see was paper-pieced with scraps of cherry blossom dp.  The rest of the image was colored with Copics.  I used several different dps for the grass, flowers, clouds and butterflies and they were all glued on to the kraft cs.  I remembered seeing a similar scene on Karen's blog and thought it would be fun to case.  I didn't add a tree, but the rest of the elements are present. 

Now don't forget to stop by the Sister Stamps blog because Jenny has been showcasing the new images for Release #8.  Today you get to meet Takeo.  I already went by and he is a cutie pie!  That's it for me.  Talk to you all soon and Mahalo for stopping by!

Hugs,
Leanne