Sister Stamps Release #19 - Now Available!

It's Sister Stamps Release Day! Yippee!! These images are available today and check the Sister Stamps blog for retail outlets.

Sister Stamps Release #19 - Mochi Pounding

It's day 3 of Sister Stamps Release #19 and today I'm featuring Mochi Pounding! Aren't these kids so cute working hard making mochi? I just have to say Sister Stamps creates such cute images that reflect some of the unique traditions we enjoy here in Hawaii!

I kept my card simple today and let the image stand out on it's own. The background is a favorite washi paper I matted with a black glossy cardstock. The sentiment is a laser cut from Island Scrapbooking.

All of the stamps featured over the past few days will be available for purchase tomorrow! Be sure to check out the following blogs for more inspiration!

Eva

Cyndi

Linda

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #19 - Hideo

It's day 2 of Sister Stamps Release #19 and here's my project for Hideo! This little guy is so cute and I created this card using the sunbursts from PTI's "Hello Sunshine" stamp set. Since mochi and fireworks are tradition that go hand in hand here in Hawaii, I added fireworks from PTI's "Red, White & Blue" stamped in gold. I completed the card by adding some glitter tape and a sentiment from Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by and here's where you can find more creative inspiration:

Eva

Cyndi

Linda

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #18 - Mieko

Helloooo! I've been M.I.A. from crafting because I've had to help my parents over the last month so it's been nice to get creative again for this new release. I'm excited about the adorable images that will be available on November 1 and my project today features Mieko. Not only are the dango mochi she's holding so cute, but once she is colored up, her facial expression makes you want to hug her! I created a box for a couple of mochi and added a tag with Mieko and a hand written sentiment.  I'm thinking about making a few of these for my son's teachers when we ring in 2014.  The mochi featured here are from a small business here in Hilo called Two Ladies Kitchen. They have all sorts of flavors and fillings including some new ones with fresh grapes and fresh poha berries. My favorites are shown here: one is filled with brownies and the other has chiso leaves mixed into the mochi and is filled with tsubushi an (red bean paste).

Here's a close-up of the mochi.

Here's a close-up of the tag.

Be sure to stop by the other blogs to see what the ladies have been up to and I'll be back tomorrow with another project!

Eva

Cyndi

Linda

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #17 - Reindeer

Welcome to day 3 of Sister Stamps release #17. I decided to create a gift card holder using PTI's Card Base-ics #2 die. I stamped the background using a Hero Arts snowflake set and some Archival Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue Ink (so pretty). 

Then I cut a 2-3/4" x 7" strip and folded it in half for the gift card. The sentiment is from PTI's Stylish Sentiments Holiday set. For some bling, I used SU's gold glitter paper to create a band.

This is the gift card holder.

All of the holiday stamps will be available tomorrow, September 1. 

Thanks for stopping by and for more ideas and inspiration, you can check out the other blogs here:

Steph

Eva

Linda

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #17 - Sleigh

Sorry for the late post today. Unexpected things came up and threw me a curve ball, but I'm back on track. Here's what I have to share featuring the Sleigh stamp. Jenny shared this image with me last year when she first got it from her sister and I absolutely went crazy for it. I love the idea of a crane pulling a sleigh of children! So imaginative, so whimsical and so perfectly captures the magical feeling of the holiday season!

I created a tri-fold card and used a PTI sentiment.

I punched out a part of the crane to make a seal for the outside of the card.
This image makes me smile and if you want to own it, too, it'll be available on September 1!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll have one more post for this release tomorrow.

More inspiration can be seen from the following ladies:

Steph

Eva

Linda

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #17 - Minoru

Can you believe it's time for the Sister Stamps holiday release already? Summer is just about over and the holidays will soon be approaching. As hectic as the holidays are, I still look forward to all the decorating and projects associated with it. Today I'm introducing Minoru and what a cute little guy he is.  For today's project, I created a flip card using Stampin' Up's new Thinlits Label Dies and it's an easy way to add a little fun to your card.

For the front, I used some ovals as background for Minoru, I added a new SU sentiment (which I love!) and I topped it off with a jingle bell flower clothespin.

For the inside, I decorated the swinging part of the card with some Doodlebug paper and embossed a PTI sentiment in black. I punched out a tiny bird from another Doodlebug paper and popped it up for a little interest. The panel on the right was added for a personalized sentiment.

Hope you liked this project and I'll be back tomorrow with more! To check out what the others have cooked up, see them here:

Steph

Eva

Linda

Sister Stamps

Supplies:

Stamps: Sister Stamps Minoru, SU Christmas Messages, PTI Bells & Boughs

DP: Doodlebug, Me & My Big Ideas

Summer School Ending

Summer is coming to an end and although I'm a bit sad about it, I'll be happy to welcome cooler weather (been extra humid this year). My son is ending summer school this week so here's a card I made for his wonderful teacher. I grabbed Lawn Fawn's "A Good Apple"set again and I love how it makes creating teacher cards really fun!

Clothespin Embellishments

I'm a little obsessed with making these pretties! I started with one for a project and I kept wanting to make more. I think it's because they're simple and fast but still come out so pretty! The resin flowers are my favorite!

Sister Stamps Release #16 - Turtle Set

Thanks for stopping by for day 3 of Sister Stamps Release #16.  I decided to make some fun shaker gift tags using the Turtle Set. I made some shaker cards awhile back in this post and I used the same technique for this. I love this method because it makes shakers easier and more doable.  

 Here are some close ups:

Here's how I made them:

Cut your tag and add a window for your shaker.

This will be the front of your tag so stamp your sentiment (before adding your bulky shaker).

Next is the fun part. Make your acetate pocket with washi tape and fill with beads and confetti. 

Adhere your shaker to the back of the front tag so you can see it through the window. Cut another tag as the background for your shaker and adhere this to the front tag so the DP shows through the shaker. I would use a strong tape like Scor-Tape for this.

I hope you enjoyed this release and these stamps will be available tomorrow, August 1. 

Here's where you can find the rest of the Design Team:

Kerry

Linda

Eva

Sister Stamps

Laura

Eunice

Patti

Sister Stamps Release #16 - Dolphin Set

I'm loving these sea animal sets and I'm using the Dolphin Set for today's gift bag. Have you noticed the gifting theme to my projects? I experimented with vellum and Distress Stains to create an ocean for our dolphin friends.  I laid colors down on the vellum, spritzed with water and dried with a heat gun. I roughly cut scallops in the vellum to make it look like waves and then made a pocket for the gift tag to slide in and out.

Here's a close up of the dolphins

Here's a close up of the tag which I kept simple. The clothespin is what really makes it. I covered the clothespin with glitter tape. Then I stamped tickets on the extra vellum I had from the ocean scene and punched them out. I added a shell and a little tag to complete this embellishment.

Be sure to stop by the other inspirational blogs for this release. Stamps will be available on August 1.

Kerry

Linda

Eva

Sister Stamps

Laura

Eunice

Patti

Sister Stamps Release #16 - Octopus Set

It's time for another Sister Stamps release and here's my project featuring these fun creatures from the Octopus Set!  I made a gift bag using a PTI die (Front & Center #1) that works perfectly with a standard lunch paper bag. I've seen a lot of things on Pinterest using negative images so I cut the "happy" out (PTI Pretty Peonies Die Set) and used the negative part. I colored some stripes on a separate watercolor paper using my Distress pens and then sprayed water on it so the colors would blend. I placed it under the "happy" so the stripes would show through.  So fun! Sequins and Stickles were added to represent bubbles and I finished it off with some Tim Holtz sparkly trim!

This stamp set will be available on August 1 and retailers are listed on the official Sister Stamps blog.

Be sure to stop by and visit the other designers and I'll be back tomorrow with another project!

Kerry
Linda
Eva
Sister Stamps

Here are the images being released this month:

Sending Love Your Way

Sharing a fun card using the trending Bokeh technique with Lawn Fawn's Sending Love Your Way stamp set. Stamping the mailbox on blue cardstock made for little coloring and pretty quick card.

Sister Stamps Release #15 - Otsu

Thanks for stopping by the fourth and final day of Sister Stamps Release #15!  Today, I'm featuring Otsu the cat!  This cute stamp comes with two accessories (ball of yarn and gift) that can be balanced on his paws. I thought it would be fun to stack a few gifts so I stamped it on various papers and cut them out. I cut out a window from the navy background paper and inserted a sentiment I printed from the computer. I love how this turned out!

I have a special affection for cats because we have two sweet rescues in our family and here are a couple photos of them:

 This is Abby, our sweet older female cat who asks to be brushed everyday!

This is Hudson, our smart, lizard catching male cat who loves to eat lettuce!

The new stamps will be available from tomorrow and be sure to check out the following blogs for more great inspiration!

Eva

Karen

Linda

Eunice

Laura

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #15 - Doogie

It's day three of Sister Stamps Release #15 and here's cutie patootie Doogie!  For this project, I decided to create a little goodie bag.  I had some pharmacy bags in my stash so I embossed one using a 5" x 7" embossing folder. I like using these bags with the 5" x 7" embossing folders because the width fits perfectly.  The bags however are long, so once embossed, they need to be cut down.  I used my Distress ink and blending tool to swipe some color on the raised parts of the embossed design to make it pop.  I created a band around the bag using a sakura DP and embellished it with a decorated clothespin. The clothespins are fun to make with glitter tape because the the width of the tape is the same as a standard clothespin, making it simple to adhere. Then I embellished it with some tickets using SU's new ticket punch and coordinating stamp set. This set makes making tickets a real breeze! I finished it off with a sparkly button as well as a hanging star tag!

Be sure to check out the great blogs for this release:

Eva

Karen

Linda

Eunice

Laura

Sister Stamps

I have one more project tomorrow so stay tuned!

Sister Stamps Release #15 - Kiki

Thanks for stopping by for day two of Sister Stamps Release #15!  I'm featuring Kiki today and this dog is a real sweet image to work with!  I colored her up first and then looked for some papers to create this card.  I ended up using a 6"x 6" Prima paper pack called Introspection. I chose a paper that was a nice contrast to Kiki (the blue paper) and then worked from there to choose the other coordinating papers.  Surprisingly, the coordinating papers I chose were papers I wouldn't have even considered at first, but in the end they seemed to work best with the blue.  This is why I like working with paper packs.  The papers and colors coordinate so well and a lot of the work is done for you. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Sending Happy Thoughts" and the cute dragonfly is a Paper Craft sticker with beads and bling.

Check out the other talented ladies below and hope to see ya back here tomorrow!

Eva

Karen

Linda

Eunice

Laura

Sister Stamps

Sister Stamps Release #15 - Cappy

It's day one of Sister Stamps Release #15 and I've got cute fur babies to share with you over the next few days. All stamps will be available on July 1.

I'm starting with the adorable Cappy! Jenny has great stories of how each image got their names and you can read about it at the Sister Stamps blog.  I used some Doodlebug stars paper for the background and this determined the color scheme for the card. I used the Tim Holtz tag die and cut it down a just a little to fit the size of this card.  I've been making a lot of tags lately and this die is definitely a go-to for  me. I chose a sentiment from an SU set called Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired) and decided to add a party hat on Cappy by simply cutting cardstock into a triangle and adding Baker's Twine.

Thanks for stopping by and the other ladies have some fabulous projects for you as well so check them out here:

Eva

Karen

Linda

Eunice

Laura

Wild Yet Simple!

I needed a birthday card for a male so I kept this simple.  My PTI "It's a Jungle Out There" stamp set got some much needed attention and not only did I create this card, but I ended up designing a couple other cards with the jungle animals.  All papers are from an Echo Park paper pad called This & That Charming.

Using the Negative

I played around with some of the dies I have and used the negative images for a change to create this card.  I think the pastel palette of colors draws you in and then you notice the cute animal die cuts. I also love how the glass button adds a vintage feel and finishes off the card perfectly!

Sister Stamps Release #14 - Release Day!

The wait is over and you can finally get these mermaid stamps!  For retail locations, check out Sister Stamps blog here.

Sister Stamps Release #14 - Simona

It's the third and final day of Sister Stamps Release #14 and say hello to Simona! She is full of life and bursting with joy! 

I saw a project at our local Ben Franklin store made out of these boxes so I bought a couple and made them into hair accessory boxes for my twin nieces.  You buy these plain white and can decorate them however you want.  I painted them with a Martha Stewart acrylic paint (color Easter Egg). Then I adhered the ribbon to the front and back (12" each) using strong double stick tape. I adhered DP (Pebbles) on the front and back of the box with DecouPage glue and covered the edges of the ribbon. I gave the outside of the entire box a nice coat of DecouPage glue.  After it dried, I adhered the names with Tombow glue and the mermaids with pop dots.

Here's one close-up

Here's another close-up

The boxes were probably intended for pencils but my nieces are into hair accessories so I filled them up with all sorts of hair goodies!

It's been a fun release and all of the mermaid stamps will be available tomorrow! If you're not sure where to purchase them, be sure to check out the Sister Stamps blog for retail locations.

A shout out to guest designer Mimi and her wonderful creations. Be sure to check out her blog here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sister Stamps Release #14 - Eliana

Welcome to day 2 of Sister Stamps release!  Today's feature mermaid is Eliana and what a sweetie she is!  I don't know if you saw my shaker cards in a prior release here, but as I was making them, I thought  the same idea of the acetate and washi tape would make a good pocket for a photo. I put my photo pocket on a wood piece but you could put it on a card, box or whatever you want. I used a photo my sister-in-law took of my nieces having fun underwater.  It's such a cool shot and and if you're wondering what kind of camera she used it's an underwater digital camera called Panasonic Lumix TS20.

To create this frame, I painted a piece of wood I got for pennies at a red tag sale. I painted it with Martha Stewart's pearl acrylic paint (color Tiger Lily) and it has a wonderful pearl shimmer to it. Then I adhered some Pebbles striped DP to the wood using Decoupage glue.

To create the frame pocket, I cut acetate and white cardstock slightly larger than my photo.  I put washi tape along the top of the acetate only first.  Then I adhered the bottom and sides of the acetate and cardstock together with washi tape.  The top is left open so your photo can slide in and out (and is changeable). Now some washi tape are more transparent than others so you need to experiment.  I found when I used some of the more transparent tapes on the acetate alone (top) it created a different look from the sides and bottom (which are adhered to the cardstock)

I colored up Eliana using another brilliant technique by Amy Young and you can see her tutorial here. I used Magic Mesh to look like netting behind Eliana. This stuff is great because it comes with a tacky backing which is sticky enough to be adhered but still allows for repositioning. I finished the frame by adding some alphabet beads, "seaweed," shells and bling to look like bubbles....FUN, FUN, FUN!

Thanks for stopping by and check out what Mimi has in store for you here and also Sister Stamps here!

Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Sister Stamps Release #14 - Aurora

Hi Everyone!  So excited about this new Sister Stamps release from the sea!  On June 1 new mermaids will be available and can come to life with your imagination and creativity.  I will have 3 projects to share over the next few days and here's my first one.

I don't know about you, but every year I buy those tear away calendars around July with the good intention of making gifts for the holidays.  And every year, I usually don't make anything or I don't use up my entire stash of calendars. And because they're timely and expire, they go to waste.  One day I found my "once again not used" calendars and came up with an idea for a card.  I tore off the June sheet and decided to make a personalized card for a friend.  I highlighted her birthday by stamping around the 11 with a heart stamp. I backed the calendar with white cardstock to give it some sturdiness since the tear away sheet is pretty thin. Then I taped some Baker's Twine to the back and put a brad through the blue cardstock to make it look like it's hanging.  If you don't have these calendars, you could use any digital or sticker type calendar.

The first mermaid I'm featuring is Aurora! I loved coloring her up because anything goes when it comes to colors (like green hair) with these mermaids.  I used Amy Young's coloring technique for her tail and you, too can learn how here.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out guest designer Mimi's blog here as well as Sister Stamps official blog here.

I'll be back tomorrow with more!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sister Stamps Aurora, Hero Arts Oceans of Joy
DP: Pebbles Under the Sea
Copics, Calendar, Sequins

School's Out!

I can't believe another school year has passed and come to an end. I put together individualized gifts for the various teachers my son had and here's the card I came up with thanks to the new Lawn Fawn "A Good Apple" stamp set.

These are the simple gifts I put together for the kids in class.  I found a free printable online HERE and packaged it up with some juice and fruit snacks. Simple and fast!

Heellllloooooo summer!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the beginning of another Sister Stamps release!

Graduation

It's crazytown at our house this week! It's the last week of school and this year it means my son is graduating from preschool.  I'm juggling household stuff, putting together teacher gifts, making graduation gifts and making leis.  On top of that, I'm trying to confirm summer plans while my husband has to entertain someone from the mainland all week!  Deep breath, deep breath!

I put together goodie bags for the preschoolers graduating. I always start these kinds of projects and don't think I need to put a lot of effort into them because the kids just rip into them.  But in the end, I always spend a good amount of time for my own peace of mind.  If you look closely, you'll see this photo was taken on the trunk of my car.  I was rushing to pack up my car and realized I hadn't taken a photo in the house!

My 4-year-old son is REALLY into the alphabet now so I decided to make him an "abc" lei for graduation. He already has a bunch of alphabet magnets so I bought a Scrabble game and used the alphabet tiles for this lei. I had no idea Scrabble was so expensive. The Deluxe Scrabble was almost $40! I guess I'll be teaching him how to play this summer!

Have a great week!