Sakura-Chan

Hi!

We've had a boom in pregnancies at work, not sure what's in the water, but it's affecting some of our newly wedded ladies! hahaha!!  So glad I have the newest Sister Stamps to create some fun baby cards for the future mamas-to-be. Here's a simple card featuring Sakura-chan and the Sakura set:

First I started off stamping/coloring Sakura-chan, then I masked her and used several of the Sakura set stamps to stamp around her.  I wasn't sure what I was going for at that point, so I put the image aside after coloring it up.  Not sure where the branches started to play a part but once I started I couldn't stop.  I drew them in with a Copic marker and then tried to draw in some details with a darker Copic color. Grabbed one of the impression sakura stamps and used one of my new ink pads from MFT to create the buds on the tree. The washi paper was layered over the white card and using the crocheted ribbon on the top and the bottom gave this a really nice girly touch.  The last addition is the computer generated sentiment.  Here is a close up...

I used a gold Viva decor pen for the stamens inside the sakura.  It gives a nice dimensional touch. You can see a little bit more of the branches and the yellow flowers here.  

I'd like to give a shout out to Sister Stamps to wish them a Happy 3rd Anniversary! I know there are a lot of us who are incredibly happy that Jenny & Denise decided to share their adorable stamps with us, Cheers to many many more!  Thanks for stopping by today!

LFF #74 ~ Arigato

Hello!

Happy Friday!  Or what's left of it!  (haha)

June has flown by so quickly especially now that the summer has begun.  I hope you've all been able to enjoy some of it.  Today I felt like sharing this card for Lilos's Fun Friday #74.

I used another one of the beautiful Asian images from the Crafter's Companions Oriental Delights stamp set.  This time I used this beautiful serene Asian lady.  Pretty yea?   I paired her up with oval and scalloped oval dies, red cardstock, Hanko washi paper, and a few dies.  The sentiment is a laser cut word from Island Scrapbooking.

I know you can't tell but that does say "Arigato" :) How about a close-up of this beautiful lady?  In this next picture are you able to see the shimmer?  I used my WOS glitter pen on her dress.

I really love this image, can't wait to ink her up again!  Mahalo for stopping by, I hope you all have a terrific weekend doing something fun, like crafting! or spending the weekend in a converted convention center watching volleyball.  yay!
~Lilo

Happy belated Birthday Janelle!

Hello!

Hope you're all enjoying the 2nd day of summer!

Today I met up with two of my good friends for a Vegan brunch that was delicious! My friend, Janelle, recommended this place since my friend Michele is trying to eat more Vegan dishes.  I'm willing to try new things and this place was great!  It helped that it was Vietnamese, so the flavors tasted the same, but without the actual meat.  Everything that was placed in front of us reminded me of regular Vietnamese food.  Sorry I don't have any pictures to share, I left my phone in the car. I know, I know that was bad! (hahaha)  Here's the link to the restaurant (Vinh Loi Tofu) and if you're in the area and would like to give it a try I highly recommend it.  They do get crowded so go early.

A month or so ago was Janelle's b-day and this is the first I've seen her since before her b-day.  I made a quick card using my newest Tiddly Inks stamp set, Flying High, that I just got on Friday.

Janelle has a dog named Ace and I thought it would be fun to make a card with the sweet dog that's included in this stamp set.  It almost looks like him. This is one adorable stamp set.  It also included the sentiment, I wrote in the "belated" right below.  Kept the card really simple. After adding in clouds and coloring the images I die cut the image with the pierced tag die from MFT, but kept it as a rectangle, not a tag.  Matted it on to black cardstock then matted that on to an embossed piece of white cardstock. Everything was then glued down on to a white card.  This was a fun and quick card to make.  Definitely need more of those for my stash. :) 

Before I sign off I wanted to send a shout out to Eva of Crafting This and That.  She was super nice to send me one of her awesome graduation cards (the red one).  She knew I was making some cards for a few graduates this year and said she had one that she was probably not going to use and asked if I could use it?  I said yes and it went to a very deserving individual last night. I almost kept it, the card was so darn cute!! I am so appreciative of her generosity. Thank you Eva!! He loved the card, but I think his mom loved it even more. :)

Alrighty folks, I hope you're all enjoying your summer!  Until next time Mahalo for stopping by!

Aloha Friday Challenge #26 Fairytale/Fantasy Creatures

Hello!

Today starts a brand new Aloha Friday challenge at Kitty Bee Designs, we hope you'll join us for a very fun one:

CHALLENGE #26

Fairytale/Fantasy Creatures

Our sponsor for this challenge is the amazing:

Please stop by the blog to see the wonderfully whimsical projects the DT created.  You'll love how sweet and cute they are.  For my showcase I created 3 baby cards featuring Sleepy Moon Bear:

I kept the design fairly simple & tried to keep them all the same.  By doing this it made it easier to finish all three.  After coloring each image I used an MFT stitched circle die to cut out the image. Used a larger sized stitched circle die to cut out the striped paper.  Both matted to the base which was cut using a SB die that I embossed using a Swiss dot folder.  Added some twine and a baby button brad to the top.  The yellow paper had some nice subtle watermarks to it, but I wanted to add some nice subtle stars to tie in so I used a stubby star stamp from Stamps by Judith in Desert Sand ink.  The sentiment is from C.C. Designs.

This card has some of the same details as the one above except instead of using patterned paper I decided that the nice detail on the card was pattern enough.  I added the stars and the sentiments and changed the color of the twine.  Here is the last card in this group:

Loved that lined paper but could not resist adding a fun detail to match the sentiment so that's where the stars came in.  The dark brown really gives it a nice almost vintage look.  I'm pretty stoked because I now have three ready to use baby cards that could possibly be used for a baby shower, birth, birthday or any occasion related to babies.

Hope you'll join us for the next two weeks.  If you need an image you can choose from any of the ones in the Kitty Bee Designs Etsy store or hop on over to our sponsor's site to pick. Can't wait to see your projects!!

Reminder: Don't forget we're still taking applications for our DT.  Click HERE to see more details. You have until Friday, June 20th to apply.

Mahalo for stopping by, have a fantastic Aloha Friday!!

Many Thanks Jason!

Hello!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Today I wanted to share a card I finished for one of my co-workers.  She asked me to make a card for one of our other associates, Jason, who has been instrumental in helping a good number of other associates stay fit.  He does it for the love of the sport, not to get paid.  He has been a big motivation and mentor for those individuals who want to get fit but also strong.  I was truly honored that she asked me to make this card for him, especially because someone else suggested they go and buy one from Wal-Mart.  (lol)  He's a really good guy and super nice.  He's always got a smile for you even though his job is very stressful.  I think he works out just to release that stress.  Hmmm... I should take a page out of his book and join them one day... (hahaha)

The group asked for something related to weight-lifting or fitness.  I went to the internet for inspiration and found some pretty funny images, but I wanted to keep it as clean and simple as possible.  I found a couple of really cool pictures on the internet and also a cool quote which to me tied all that he's done for them in one sentence.  So the front of my card was inspiration from the internet...

Fitness motivation tip:
"You can get in shape best and quickest by helping others achieve their fitness goals"
-Felicity Luckey

The card itself is a long one with a pocket in the back.  I'll get to that later.  I found this cool picture of some weights on a rack, it looks similar to what we have in our company gym.  I printed it out and loved that it was a black & white photo.  I found a cool quote online as well.  (Read caption below the above picture) I think its sorta cool that this looks like an old Polaroid picture.  I distressed up the sides with some black soot distress ink and a sponge.  Here's the inside of the card:

In appreciation for all you do to help us stay fit...
We acknowledge you

So I could have stopped here and asked them to sign inside, but I decided to add a pocket to the back and include some tags so if any of them wanted to write a special personal note of thanks or inspiration to Jason they could... So this is where I did a little bit of "crafty" work... (hahaha)

The striped and star paper are from Colorbok.  I used dies from MFT, Tim Holtz & Paper Smooches.  The tags were a bit too white for me so I distressed them up same as above.  Added a red ribbon with a staple and they all fit nicely in to the pocket.  I had a lot of fun putting this one together and my co-worker was blown away when she got it.  She was not expecting that.  Neither was I (hahaha) but I wanted to do something extra special for her and for Jason.

I really hope Jason likes it.  I guess I'll find out next week when they present it to him.  Well that's all from me today.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're all having a really great summer!