KBD Spotlight - November

Hello!

Today is the first Monday of November and I am spotlighting this Fall tag on the Kitty Bee Designs blog.

This cutie is Bunch of Carrots Heart Bun illustrated by our awesome artist, Ruth Johnson.  I thought it would be fun to make a tag for my spotlight.  I don't make very many tags but when I do, I usually like to make them big and fancy.  I think I accomplished that here.  I used several dies from MFT, Taylored Expressions and My Creative Time.  The papers are from Bo Bunny, Neenah, Hanko Designs and scraps from my stash.  I hand wrote the sentiment inside the banner and layered another color of the same banner behind it.  I fun-cut the image and the hearts (yikes!) then popped Heart Bun into the center of the circles.  Topped it off with a triple bow made out of  sheer ribbon and a die cut leaf.

This tag is ready to decorate a gift bag, mason jar, or even a card.  The possibilities are endless.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a fabulous November!!

Happy Girl's Day!

Hello!

Popping in for a quick post.

Happy Girl's Day!

I almost missed making something for today!

This is a quick tag I made today that can be used for any occasion, but for today it's perfect for Girl's Day.  I just happened to have that beautiful background (older Kodomo stamp from Hanko Designs) already stamped & colored up (score!).  I was planning to use it for a recent project but it didn't work out.  But it worked out today!  I now needed an image to add to it.  Flipping through my stamps I thought tiny Mitsuyo from Sister Stamps was perfect!  I quickly stamped, colored and fun-cut her and popped her on to the panel.  The rest came together quickly.

The cherry blossoms on the edge are from a MS border punch.  I have the larger version of it and when I found out there was a smaller version of it I had to track it down.  Lucky for me I found it at my local scrapbook store!  I love that the flowers are tiny and can be used for a project as tiny as this tag.  It just adds a nice touch.  I also used a new embossing folder on the white cardstock as I thought leaving it plain was just too plain.  (lol)  Of course I also added some Wink of Stella to Mitsuyo's kimono and hair ribbon.  You'll just have to imagine how sparkly it is.  (hahaha!)

Mitsuyo with Crane from Sister Stamps

Have a great day and for all the ladies and little girls out there Happy Girl's Day!!  Thanks for stopping by! 

Another Thanks Tag

Hello!

Are you ready for another tag?  Don't worry this is gonna be short and sweet.  Yes, I enjoyed the little things this weekend and one of them was making a few tags for my stash.  You can never have too many Thank you tags, so I had fun with this one...

After cutting out the tags with black and white cardstock I die cut the thanks into the white tag. Glued it to the black tag and then went on a stamping frenzy using the different sizes and shapes of Sakura flowers with different colored Distress inks. Added the twine to tie it all together. (pun intended.... lol)

Used the following supplies: Tag You're It MFT die, Taylored Expressions word die, Sakura stamps from Sister Stamps, Distress Inks (shabby shutters, spiced marmalade, mustard seed & peacock feathers), sequins from Winnie & Walter, Doodlebug twine, Neenah black and white cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Aloha Friday Challenge #20

Woo Hoo!!  Happy Aloha Friday!

Today starts a brand new Aloha Friday challenge at Kitty Bee Designs.  This one should be good fun!

CHALLENGE #20

PLAY PRETEND

(Show image in costume or doing something job/hobby related)

Our awesome sponsor this week is:

 2 Cute Ink

Some of the cutest stamps out there.  Thank you Heidi for sponsoring our challenge!  Make sure to stop by the challenge blog to read the prize info and details of the challenge.  You'll also get to see how the rest of the Bees are playing pretend.

Today I've got two projects to share using the same digital image, Lucky Unicorn.

Kawaii, right?!!  Makes me smile.  First up is the challenge inspiration card.  Now mind you I was going for playing pretend, k? >.<  Meet Zebra-corn...

Get it?  Unicorn incognito as a zebra?  hahaha...  I know I tried my best.  I actually like how it turned out, something different from me that's for sure.   How about a different angle?

When I finished coloring I was pleasantly surprised on how cute the black and white stripes turned out.  It really seemed to work.  :)  The clouds were created with a stencil and Distress Ink Tumbled Glass.  The green tree with the yellow flowers is a Kodomo rubber stamp.  I used DI Peeled Paint for the green part and Copics to color in the flowers.  The grass was cut with a Fiskars grass border punch and the paper is scrap from a recent project.  Once I popped on the butterflies and the sentiment I said to myself, Stop!  The scene is pretty complete if you ask me.  Zebra-corn agrees...  hahaha!  BTW, I kept the rainbow to use for later...

Now here's the other just for fun project, a tag, using the image as it was meant to be...

Aww there's the cute lucky unicorn and remember I mentioned using the other rainbow later?  Well here it is.  It was fussy cut and then popped up on to the other rainbow with pop dots to give it a little bit of a 3-D effect. The tag is MFT, and the scene is pretty self explanatory.  The sentiment is computer generated and I colored in the RAINBOW and RAINBOW word with you guessed it rainbow colors.  The clouds were created the same as above.  I used the same rainbow Copic colors on the button to sort of mimic the rainbow below; added black white white twine and a black sheer ribbon from my stash.  Here's a close-up of the rainbow...

I used a white gelly roll pen (by Sakura) and added whimsical dots to the rainbow.

Well that's a wrap for me, don't forget to read the rules before linking up to our challenge and have fun! Looking forward to seeing what you create!  Mucho Mahalos for stopping by today, have a fabulous Aloha Friday and a great weekend!!

Hugs,
Leanne
Team Bees for Kitty Bee Designd DT

Fairy Fae Catches a Star

Hello,

Oh boy is anyone else out there dragging from the time change?  I feel like I've lost more than an hour and feel like the day is just running away too fast.  Hoping to get used to it as we've got to for the next several months.  Ai-ya!

On Saturday, I joined several other ladies from all over the globe to do a coloring along with the fabulous Alyce of Kit and Clowder.  If you are not a part of the Kit and Clowder following your missing out.  Alyce recently started her own website where you can learn to techniques in Copic coloring or learn some tips and tricks to add to enhance your skills.  She also offers classes on the basic colorings and will give you feedback if you purchase any of the coloring classes.  Click on the Kit and Clowder banner on my side bar to jump to her website and sign up.   You can also find her on Facebook by typing in Kit and Clowder in the search bar.

I have been a fan of Alyce's since I first saw her on the Make It Crafty team.  She has since grown in her coloring skills to become a master Copic colorist, IMHO, and each time I see her finished projects I swoon.  hahaha...  Anyhoos, I hope you'll hop on over to her blog and then her website to check it out.  This was the first time I tried a color-a-long and it was quite fun.  She's really patient and although she really didn't want to reveal too many tips was able to get us all through to the end, with lots of laughs in between.  We worked with the beautiful Fairy Fae Catches a Star from Tiddly Inks.  Here is my end result...

If you have an eagle eye you'll see the big mess up on my coloring even though I tried to hide it.  I've been trying to go back in with the colorless blender to fix it, but it just kept getting messier and started to spread. As with any other mistake I try to hide it, this time with Distress ink.  :)  Not too bad of a job, but you can still see it.  =.=  As soon as I figure out what to do with this one I'll share the finished project.  Oh, I accidentally spilled a drop of water on the lower right corner so I ended up spritzing the rest of the card with water that is why it looks a bit warped and distressed even more than normal.  I actually like it. :)

I learned about highlights, and the "dreaded" pleats, I think I did ok for my first go.  Oh and I learned what stippling is and hope to use that technique in future projects.  Yes, this girl definitely needs lots more practice!  (hahaha) But not too bad.  I wanted to keep practicing so I did another coloring which didn't turn out as nice as the first but I do like how the pleats turned out.  And lo and behold not too many mistakes.  Woot!  I was so happy with how it turned out (well except for the wings, not as defined as the first one) this one went on a card right away.  

I have one more that I wanted to share.  This one is with the same image, but different colors.

I have been enjoying the color combo of blue and green lately.  So I had a bit of fun with her with this tag.  Not too happy with the dress, but I do like how the hair turned out and I did some stippling on the top of the tag.  All in all a fun bit of coloring.  Will definitely keep practicing and sharing.

Thanks for stopping by and if you read this til the end you're very sweet! >.<  Have a great evening!!

LFF #66 - First of 2014

Happy Aloha Friday!

Sorry everyone!  I pre-posted something earlier for the wrong date!! My bad!!  But no worries, I have another post to share.  If you didn't see the project I had for KBD cool, if you did no worries.  You'll see it again later this month. :)  Please stop by the KBD blog today to see the new challenge and the Bee's posts. :)

So since I didn't really have to post for Kitty Bee Designs I can post a LFF which would be the first of 2014!  Today for Lilo's Fun Friday #66 share I have another tag/envelope featuring the Year of the Horse from Sister Stamps.  I work for a Chinese company so I think I'll make something similar for Chinese New Year for a few of my co-workers, minus the money (maybe).  (lol)

 

I used black cardstock for my base and the beautiful red/gold paper is from DCWV.  Love this new line of Asian papers.  Sorry the picture is so bad, I was in a hurry and didn't get a chance to get a good shot of the paper.  I added some pretty flowers from Petaloo.

The inside tag is super simple with a few kanji sentiments stamped with gold Encore pigment ink.  I colored the horse with Copics, tried to go for a golden tone but looks like honey to me.  :D

 

Yikes!  The picture is really bad, but I wanted to show you the message inside the window.  Another awesome laser cut die word from Island Scrapbooking.  When I was visiting I made sure to pick up several of these words in white so that I could color them up to match my projects.  This one I colored red and it pops really nicely off the black.  Here's the back of the envelope...

Using the black circle that was a result of the front window I embossed it and then using some scraps of the red and gold paper I die cut 2014 using the CC Cutter dies.

Mahalo for stopping by today!  Have a terrific Aloha Bones/Hawaii Five-O Friday!!
Hugs,
Lilo

Thanks Boss!

Hi everyone!

Today I have another envelope/tag/card to share.  This one I made especially for one of my co-workers who decided to go back to his country and help out with the family business.  It will be really hard to get used to him not being around, thinking he's on vacation will get old after a month.  When he would go on vacation we knew he'd be back, this time he won't and we're all going to have to deal with that when the time comes, in each of our own way.  He's been with us for 7 years and is not only a co-worker, but a friend.  He will be truly missed.  He actually wasn't my boss, but it was a running joke between us and we'd call each other "boss".  Yep gonna miss that too.

For the image I knew I would choose the new Sister Stamps mochi kids and as he's a guy I thought Hideo was perfect.  The colors I chose were blues and golds, sorta like the Spam colors (hahaha), but seriously the colors are the color of the spam can.  (haha, he'd like that as he's a fan of spam).   Sorry for getting off track!

You can read all about Hideo on the Sister Stamps blog post HERE.

I went with the same peek-a-boo window frame using the SB circles.  The washi paper is from Hanko Designs and is perfect for a guy card.  When the tag is pulled out you get to see the secret message...

This time I used the Best Wishes laser die-cut word from Island Scrapbooking.  I inked it up with gold ink and sprinkled on clear embossing powder.  The effect is like brushed gold.  Very cool...  Here's the back of the envelope:

 

As you can see I embossed the gold cardstock, and using the blue circle that was leftover from cutting the front window I added the gold numbers (CC Cutters bubble number die) and glued it as close to the center as possible.  Added some strips of the washi paper to close it in.  Here's the tag:

CAS is the name of the game here.  I used another IS laser die-cut word and colored it to match his gi.  Using the Crafter's Companion Kanji Collection set 1 stamps (bummer these are discontinued) I double stamped before inking it on to my tag first because I wanted it to be a bit faded but still able to read the words. 

Wanted to show off the washi paper once again.  Isn't it pretty?!  It has golds, shimmery blues, greys and there is some kanji on there, love the print as well.   On his last day we were given "homework" by my other co-worker/his work sister who was not there.  The "homework" was to surprise him by decorating his cubicle... No we won't say the word trash because everything was intact (hahaha)...  Here's a mash-up photo:

I think the worst of it was the confetti!  All around our area I kept seeing sparkly objects on the ground.  He was a good sport about it, but was bent on revenge..  hahaha...  His poor sister didn't get as bad a treatment, but she was none the less surprised when she got to work to find a lot of her stuff pinned to the walls outside of her cubicle!  Brother/sister revelry at it's best.  Here are a couple more pics from the office and our outing to BJs...  Good times..

These are only a few pictures, but you can certainly see how much he will be missed.  Especially when things go wacky with our systems...  hahaha!!

Itadakimasu!

Well before I get mushy I'll sign off.  (hahaha)  Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're having a great day!!

Hugs,
Leanne

Happy Belated Birthday Melissa!

Hello everyone,
Yesterday was Melissa's birthday and she's one of our fabulous designers from Team Fumi.  The team celebrated her day with a wonderful birthday post hosted by Denice.  Stop by the post and then head on over to Melissa's blog to wish her a happy birthday.  Although I am super late with this post & project I hope the birthday gal isn't too upset that I wanted to extend her birthday a day longer...  Her favorite colors are purple, pink and black so I thought this tag/envelope would be a fun way to share a special hidden message.  Featuring Yumi with Birdie from the Peek-a-Boo series here's my project made especially for Melissa...

Happy Birthday

It's similar to the one I recently made (scroll down to my last post to see it).  I chose some fun papers from GCD, black cardstock, pink and white flowers and a IS laser cut word die.  Here is what the tag looks like when removed from the envelope

Bummer, too bad you can't see the clouds in the background.  I made them really light and subtle, hoping to create a "warm" scene to celebrate Melissa's special day.  Here's another picture of the envelope including the hidden message for her...

hehehe...  I really dig that stamp!  It's from Paper Smooches (Slang Gang clear sentiment stamps).  There are several other fun sentiments in the pack and I might be using them all. :)  Here's the back with a simple birthday wish...

I really like this stamp, although it's an old school wooden block stamp, the font and message is lovely. 

Sending happy, warm and wonderful birthday wishes to you Melissa.. I hope you've had a wonderful start to your special day and continue to enjoy it for the rest of the month. xoxo

Until next time, stay warm if you're in cold weather and enjoy the rest of your day!  Mahalo for stopping by!

Hugs,
Leanne

Best Wishes....2014! Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful NYE.  Whew, 2013 went out with a bang around my area.  Lots of illegal fireworks in the neighborhood, (fireworks are illegal in most of Los Angeles, but that certainly does not stop anyone from shooting them off, especially in my neighborhood - hahaha) and what was I doing?  Well I spent it with a few friends from work eating at our usual restaurant with 12 dishes between us and then a good chill at the nearby Mc D's for a drink, non-alcoholic.  It was nice especially since it will be the last time before one of my buds leaves.  After that it was a quiet night of crafting for me and that is what I'm going to share with you today.  :)

BTW, this turned into a longer post than expected.  It's filled with lots of pictures so if you don't have time to read my drivel just look at the pictures.  (lol)  Now I chose this image because I have been wanting to stamp and color her since I saw the previews back in November!!

It's technically a red envelope with a tag.  I was planning to make it in to a card but changed my mind and glued down what would have been the opening.  Now it's an envelope with Mieko from Sister Stamps peeking out.  Isn't she sweet?!  She's enjoying her mochi balls while ringing in the new year.  To read more on Mieko here's a link to the Sister Stamps blog post.

As I mentioned there is a tag and here it is up close...

Ta-da!  I stamped and colored Mieko in the center of some big white space.  You probably can't tell but I added some gold & black flecks to her kimono to break up all the red.  Hopefully in the later picture you'll be able to see it.  Added some sakura flowers, from Island Scrapbooking, and used a popular AmyR sentiment stamp.  The ribbon is a red and gold sparkly one that I purchased at Daiso and to cover the punched hole I used some of the red & gold paper.

Once you pull out the tag with Mieko on it there is something left behind.  (haha)  Pretty cool yea?  I did make it in to a window and didn't have to waste any paper to do it!  Woo hoo!

Kinda like the idea of putting a sentiment, or in this case, numbers inside the window and then the "Best Wishes" below it.  The 2014 are number dies from CC Designs.  The red and gold paper is Lokta paper from India.  I covered the red cardstock with it.  I embossed the back side of the card, which I will show you in a sec, and for the finish some pretty flowers from Petaloo here and there.

Here is the back...

Oops! I just realized that my watermark covers one of the words.  Well if you don't recognize the kanji it means "Joy".  I stamped Love, Happiness (because there is no peace symbol) and Joy, from Crafters Companion, on the back and embossed it with clear powder to make it stand out.  I used the circles from the window in the front and also cut a window circle (is that a crafty word? hehe) of the Lokta paper to go around.  As you can see there is that cool embossing folder, from Lifestyle Crafts (Woven EF0011), I've been using if quite often now.  I also added that pretty red and gold ribbon to the top for another touch of sparkle.  Here's a close-up of the back...

Wow, that is some RED yea?!  hahaha.. Sorry my picture skills need some work, especially with reds... Just look at the black parts and the golds if you can. (hahaha)  Okay, okay winding down to the end... I know finally yea?!  hehe, sorry who knew it would take this long!  Eep!  Anyhoos, I'm happy with the end result of what started before Christmas and ended a little after the New Year began.  I hope you all have a wonderful start to 2014 and may it be fulfilling and prosperous!

Now it's time to eat some mochi!!  Itadakimasu!!   Hou'oli Makahiki Hou! Akemashite Omedetou!  Happy New Year everyone!!  May it be blessed!!

Hugs,

Lilo

Some Fall projects

Hello!

I was in the mood to make some small cards and a tag using this really pretty Fall bamboo washi paper from Hanko Designs. I added it to some kraft and mustard colored cardstock with a few additional accents: twine, buttons, ribbon and some canvas paper.  I didn't want to color all of the images I chose so I stamped two of them on to kraft cardstock and used a versamark pen to shade in the images.  First up is the tag I made using Kiki from Sister Stamps, a hello sentiment from Paper Smooches, a heart punch, a Fall colored canvas paper leaf, button, ribbon and twine...

Hello Fall tag with Kiki (Sister Stamps)

This next one is a small card featuring Shin-Shin from Sister Stamps.  Also stamped him on kraft cardstock and colored in with the same versamark pen.  Stamped the hello sentiment inside a punched heart.  Added some twine, a button, distressed the edges and lastly rounded the corners.

Hello Fall card with Shin-Shin (Sister Stamps)

This last card I shared on the Y&FH blog the other day.  I colored Summer Chuckles with a few Copics and decided to put him in a polaroid frame.  Stamped "many thanks" from Paper Smooches and attached it to the front of this small card.  Rounded the corners, distressed the edges and added some twine and I was done. (Playing in C4C213 challenge & 2 Sisters challenge #171)

Many Thanks from Summer Chuckles

That's all I have for today.  Wishing you all a really awesome Sunday!

Hugs,
Leanne

KBD Aloha Friday Mid Inspiration - Fall

Scroll down or click HERE to find my Y&FH blog hop card.

Good morning and happy Aloha Friday!!

Today the Bees are back to share our mid-inspirations for our current Fall colors challenge at Kitty Bee Designs.  Stop over to the blog to see everyone's adorable creations.  Today I have a card featuring Hangin' Around Bear which you can purchase from the Kitty Bee Designs Etsy store.

Thinking of you - KBD Hangin' around bear

I started off making another tag using a couple MFT stacking pierced tags. Colored up my image with Distress ink pads and Copic markers.  Added a nice big brown button with some twine and a scrap piece of burlap that I cut in to the tab at the top of the tag.  I did some burlap coloring on it using the same ingredients as my last tag on the leaves.  I'll try to remember to take pictures next time I do this!  Anyhoos, I matted my tag onto a pretty striped piece of scrap paper from Colorbok.  I could have left it as a tag, but I remembered I had purchased a BASICGREY Indian Summer card kit from Ross and the theme was Fall so I chose one of the cards and followed the layout.  Once I was done I popped on my tag.  Worked out pretty well.

Happy Fall!

You still have time to link up to our challenge which ends on 11/22/13.  And don't forget, we're having a DT call over at Kitty Bee Designs.  If you'd like to be a part of a fun group of ladies creating designs with some kawaii >.< animal stamps then come check out our DT call HERE.  You have until November 30th or until the spots are filled to apply.  Good luck!

Mahalo for stopping by today!!  Have a fabulous Aloha Friday!!

Hugs,
Leanne

KBD CH #12 - Fall Colors

Happy Aloha Friday everyone!!

We're having a DT call over at Kitty Bee Designs.  If you'd like to be a part of a fun group of ladies creating designs with some kawaii >.< animal stamps then come check out our DT call HERE.  You have until November 30th or until the spots are filled to apply.  Good luck!

Ok, today the Bees are buzzing in to share our inspirations for our new Aloha Friday challenge:

CHALLENGE #12 - FALL COLORS

I went online to see if I could find out what are the Fall colors for 2013 and found the picture below.  Not your typical fall colors right?

 

When I think of Fall colors I think of the leaves changing from greens to reds, yellows, oranges, something like this....

 

Yes, that is much better!  hahaha... but I guess it all depends if you're in to the traditional or the current fashion trends which will determine what you consider FALL colors to be.  I've been having lots of fun with tags lately.  Here is a Fall tag I made featuring an adorable Kitty Bee Owl.   :)

This was a lot of fun to make.  I used an adorable Kitty Bee Designs Kawaii Owl, burlap paper, Adirondack Alcohol inks, Viva Decor Colour Inka gold metallic rub, a Sizzix die and some beautiful paper from Colorbok to create this tag.  The tag itself measures 5 1/2" high x 3" wide.  It is backed by kraft cardstock to make it sturdier. I cut the beautiful paper down to match and I tried to cut out parts that I thought would make this Fall tag stand out without being too busy.  Bummer you can't tell but the leaf on the lower left corner is actually gold, like gold leaf.

Burlap Fall colored leaves

The leaves are made out of the burlap paper (DCWV) which was a great find for me.  I used a Tim Holtz Sizzix leaf die (has 3 different leaves on it) to make them and used the Adirondack inks and Viva Inka gold metallic rub to make leaves that would compliment my tag.  Sorry it's such a dark picture, I wish you could see how pretty the colors are.  I'll see if I can do a short tutorial on how I made these in another post.  It's all experiment and go with me, using products I purchased and have yet to use and also pieces of stuff left on my desk. I think I'll be making more of these. :)  To top it off I used some beautiful ribbon from May Arts and that embellishment (Mrs. Grossman's Natural Art) is something I picked up at Joann's eons ago.  So glad it finally has a home.  Here's another shot of the tag on it's side with a little more light on it.

Fall inspired tag featuring a Kitty Bee Kawaii owl

It's so shiny! (hahaha)  Make sure you stop by the Kitty Bee Designs blog to see what the rest of the Bees created using FALL colors.  There are some really awesome inspirations waiting for you to see.  We hope to see your creation, but before you link up make sure to read the rules, we'd really be sad to have to disqualify your project. 

Happy Fall!!

A reminder, if you're in the Carson, CA area this weekend (Nov 9-10) come by the Carson Community Center where the Rubber Stamp Convention is being held.  I'll be at the Yumi & Fumi Handmade booth.  For details click here.  Okie dokes everyone, I hope you have a wonderful Aloha Friday!!

Mahalo for stopping by!!

Hugs,

Leanne