a wonderful Christmas

Hi!  Our Lego Robotics team participated in the state championship yesterday and they did so well!  Out of over 200 teams that participated in qualifiers, 56 teams were invited to the championships.  Out of the 56 teams that participated, our team placed 4th for robot performance and won a 2nd place Lego trophy for innovative solution.  I was so shocked!  Ha!  Not that I didn't have faith in our kids but the competition can be tough and we felt so lucky to have gotten so far.  I was even more impressed when the principal congratulated the kids and told them that was the best a team from their school had ever done at a Lego robotics state tournament.  Wow, what a proud moment!  The long day (waking up at 5:30 in the morning with the final awards done at 4 pm) was totally worth it!  Still feeling excited about it.  But I will finally share my card.  Hehe.

I made a card to be entered in the following challenges:  Paper Sundaes--Sundae Bar (color red and used die cuts), Wee Memories--Free for All, and Young Crafters Unite Challenge #4--use dies.

After Cheryl had posted her card using Sister Stamps Shimo-san, I wanted to use mine too!  I think I will make a bunch of these to give to the kids' Nihongo teachers.  I used Spellbinders rectangle die and the lattice rectangle that Cheryl gave me a little while ago.  Thanks!  I took this picture under our tree.  I actually wrapped some presents this morning!

The sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio.  I added some stickles to the snow on the ground and around the snowman.  Some liquid accents on his nose.  I also used a my black Prismacolor pencil and Copics for their hair.

Thanks for reading!

have a merry xmas

Hi!  I've been feeling kind of in a rut these days.  Today I was so indecisive, I couldn't get anything crafty accomplished.  I literally wasted my day and I was irritated at myself for doing that.  So finally I just started doing something and thought to play along with TGF's Monday Funday #7 to use Twi-Color Combo (red, black, silver/white).  I'd go watch the new Twilight movie too except I don't really know anyone that would watch it with me.  Guess I'll just wait til the DVD. 

I decided not to use Twilight inspired stamps and thought the color combo could be xmas-y as well.  'Kay, I threw a little green in there then thought shucks, I should've colored the leaves silver or something.  I love this Holiday Anya!  She is so stinkin' cute.  I colored her hair with Copics and my black Prismacolor pencil.  Added a whole bunch of bling and the circle sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio.

So basically, it took me the whole day just to make this card even though it's relatively simple.  Ugh!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

TGF Heart Journal--week 14

Hi!  Just a quick post for TGF's Heart Journal--week 14.  This week's assignment is to create a page with only 2 main colors.  I've noticed the tip hasn't changed the last 2-3 weeks.  So maybe they are out of tips??  Anyway, I decided to try the black and white pencil coloring on kraft.

This is the last Pickle stamp (Wild Rose Studio) that I bought.  He is probably my favorite though my kids liked the 2 penguins together the best.  I tried my best with the Prismacolor pencils.  I wasn't in a rush but knew I couldn't spend the whole day on it.  So I had to keep the layout pretty simple cause there's so much to do.  Just rubbed some gray/black charcoal for the background.

Plus my kids have early release the next few days due to conferences so that will really cramp my style.

Thanks so much for reading!

Birthday Kitty

Hello.  I finally made a card!   I feel like I'm being relatively productive, but when I actually need a card, I don't have anything in my stash!  I think I agonize too much over what to make and where to put things and it takes me forever to finish a card!  I'm finally posting it now since it arrived in the mail to the intended recipient, whew, luckily it made it on time.  I thought I would have more time over fall break, like not needing to wake up so early to get the kids ready for school, but I don't know where the time goes, maybe watching too much X-factor!

First I wanted to use my new Spellbinders heart circle.  Which was part of my problem because I couldn't find any card sketches online last week that used a big circle!  And then I didn't want to waste too much time web surfing when I had to get this into the mailbox.  Then I wanted a birthday-ish image, so out of all the Wild Rose Studio clearance stamps that I had bought, this one seemed the most appropriate, except now I'm thinking I should have colored the cat gray or something to match the cardstock better.  And ack, but I don't actually have a sentiment on the front, which feels a little weird to me, but I couldn't find a good place to put it.  I actually wanted to use my Papertrey Ink Big Birthday Wishes but it was hard to squeeze those large sentiments, numbers, plus this large cat image onto the heart circle.

So I just put those on the inside.  Which is why there is a pink circle on a pink card since I had already glued the numbers down to the circle.  OK, that's about it for me.  Eva, I'm looking forward to more of your crafty creations.  I'm thinking at this rate, I better get started on some Xmas cards and forget Halloween already!

TGF Heart Journaling--week 12

Hi!  TGF Heart Journaling time again!  It's week 12, so finally at the half way mark.  This time the theme is to make a watercolor effect.  So I went with my kids' watercolors and my hubby's old watercolor pencils.

Yeah, it's Christmas again!  This penguin is also from Wild Rose Studios and is called Pickle.  He's cute!  So I tried to make a tree with the watercolors and did the background as well.  This is the reason why I don't draw and instead buy stamps.  Hehe.

I used watercolor pencils for Pickle and I like the way that came out.  Found the quote online after searching for a bit for something that would match my scene.  I didn't really know quite what I was going for, just that I wanted to use this stamp. 

Gee, the time goes by so quickly.  I hope I can finish another card before picking up the kids.  But stuff like chores and laundry get in the way.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

TGF Heart Journal--week 10

Hi!  It's week 10 of TGF's Heart Journal!  Almost half way there!  So this week's assignment was to use some sort of tearing.  The tip was to make an interesting background kind of like a collage which I realize I didn't really do.  Well, mostly cause we don't have any magazines!  I cleaned the house and threw away all the old magazines.  Usually we donate them to the library but they were really old like a year or so!  I guess they were just hiding out in our house somewhere.  Anyway, back to my page.

I wanted to use this penguin stamp so much!  They are so cute!  Wild Rose Studio has a new line of penguin stamps!  He is called Pickle the Penguin.  My daughter loves penguins so much so I had to get some.  This one is called Christmas Cuddles.  I tore up the edges of the snowflake DP and just used some printer paper for the bottom and added a lot of stickles for the glittery-ness. 

Sorry if the glitter is kind of blinding!  So hard to take a good picture with glitter reflecting everywhere.  I just love this image!  And I know I already said it before but they are so cute!

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Operation Write Home and Perfect Paper Crafting Blog Hop!!!

Hello!  Welcome to Operation Write Home (OWH) and Perfect Paper Crafting blog hop!  OWH is a wonderful organization that collects blank handmade cards for the military to send to their loved ones.  They have special requirements about what can go on the cards so if you'd like to join in and send in a few cards, click here for their blog and click the links for more info.

For this hop, Perfect Paper Crafting will be offering a $50 gift certificate to one lucky person who finishes the hop and comments on each blog listed below.  You can comment until Sunday, September 29th.  Good luck!

Here is the Blog Hop list.  If you get lost along the way, you can always head back to the start at OWH HERE.

Stars and Stamps (OWH)

Laura (Perfect Paper Crafting)

Linda
Pam
Sandy
Jenny
Samantha

Jeanie 

Kim
Paula
Diane
Wendy  

Dixie
Heather
Roxie
Allison
Leigh
Patti
Marianne
Lezlye
Nancy 

Susanna
Eva (ME!!)
Julie
OWHtv

Here is the card I created using one of the many sketches you can find on the OWH blog.  There are so many, I had a hard time deciding!

I used this cute stamp from Wild Rose Studio called Bella with Daisy.  The sentiment is also from Wild Rose Studio and is a simple Thinking of You sentiment.  I used my Perfect Layers rulers to create the thin yellow mats and make a cheery card.  Even with these mats and layers, this card is a standard A2 card and not too thick to send through the mail with regular postage.

Here is a close up of Bella.  I actually had this image stamped and colored for a while and didn't know what kind of card I wanted to make.  I think she is perfect for this hop!

The next person on this hop is Julie!

Hope you enjoy the hop!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cuddle Anya Circle Card

Hi again!  Made another card last night for CA&F Saturday's Sketch.

It's my first circle card.  And the first time I used all of Cuddle Anya.  I used her little hat as a template for Mickey ears before.  Cuddle Anya is so cute!  I love her bear and her hat.  I'm really happy that my circle card also stands on it's own without rolling over or anything.  I cut the circle with my largest circle nestability.  Before I used Coluzzle to make shapes.  I still have a whole bunch of Coluzzle things, mostly the puzzle pieces cut outs.  All paper is from Wild Rose Studio that I bought from All That Scraps.  Wild Rose Studio also has the cutest bear stamps (Milton).

I tried making the bear with curly hair or at least give it some texture.  I had seen over at Color Me Copic, Amy Young had a tutorial on how to color curly hair with copics.  Being somewhat lazy and impatient, I didn't look at the video but just figured I try it first.  Hahaha.  I don't think it turned out too bad.  Maybe I should watch the video.

Anyway, I may try to make another card tonight too.  I have to get all this challenge stuff out of my system first.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

keep cozy

Hi!  Hope you're enjoying your day!  I always have a couple of quiet hours on Sunday when the kids are out.  So peaceful to do whatever it is I need to get done but the time goes by too quickly.

There is a new TGF sketch over at SCS.  Please check it out and play along.

I inked up and colored one of the new girls from Miss Anya Scarves.  Doesn't she look so cozy in all her winter wear?  Yeah, I've never had winter clothes like that.  Part of me thinks all that would make me itch.  Haha.  The sentiment is from TGF's Keep Cozy -- the one with all the cute snowmen.  The papers are all from Wild Rose Studio.  I love the colors!  I made the felt (from PTI) snowflakes using dies from My Favorite Things.  I also used my Perfect Layers rulers to mat my main image to the size I wanted. 

This is one of my favorite dark purple Copic combos these days.  Looks grey doesn't it?  But it's purple!

Thanks for reading!

Bella Xmas

Hi!  I have my first Christmas card of the year to share today.  I used my very new Wild Rose Studio's Bella on Bauble!  After always admiring Rinne's holiday cards, I can finally join in at Christmas Card Challenges.   The challenge this week (#36) is to use something new.

Oh, isn't Bella adorable as usual?  I couldn't resist these when I saw them so I had to order them right away.  The sentiment and green paper is also from Wild Rose Studio.  I went simple again with this card layout.

I went with non-traditional pink/purple colors for this card.  I added Stickles to the stars and Flower soft to Bella's Santa hat.

So I was gonna say how the name Bella always reminds me of Twilight these days.  And how shocked I was that Kristen Stewart could cheat on Rob Pattinson!  Like what?!  and like why?!  The other guy was old and married and had kids.  Really?!  

But now that seems unimportant after finding out that there are no online stores that are allowed to deliver Copics to the island of Oahu.  (Edit:  Let me clarify that there are online stores that can deliver to the other Hawaiian Islands but NOT to Oahu).  Like WHAT?!  I think I could lay down in the woods and cry like Bella after Edward leaves her.  So what are the crafty Copic coloring Oahu folks supposed to do???  We have basically one choice and a few smaller crafty stores to go to.  Before I start complaining and wailing I will be fair and check out that store and try not to faint if the prices are astronomical or if the supply is low.  It just feels so unfair, so un-American to have our choices cut down.  Yeah, I know Copics is Japanese.  Maybe I gotta try Korean ShinHan?

So are there any other Oahu crafters that read my blog?  Where are you gonna buy your Copics from???

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday To You

Hi!  So after kind of a stressful day dealing with some school stuff for my daughter, I sat down and finished this card.  I was feeling super bummed and didn't have the energy to go find a sketch.  So left to my own devices I just slapped together this card to get my mind off of the situation knowing that we'd have to deal with it tonight.  Just when you think everything is going great, some kind of mini crisis has to land in your lap.  When does it ever end?  And does raising kids ever get any easier?

I made this card for Saturated Canary's Challenge #16 -- Happy Birthday and Simon Says Stamp 3rd Birthday Celebration.  This is a Saturated Canary digi called Ellie's Birthday.  And I colored her in first then realized hey, I don't have any papers that really match so this was the best I could do.  The little circle sentiment is from Wild Rose Studios.

Her hair was a bit difficult to color for me being so fine and light. 

Anyway, I just got some new toys/tools to play with today so hopefully I'll have time to share what I make with them this week.   I hope anyway.  I guess it'll depend on the mini crisis.  Thanks for reading!

Milton with Teddy

Hi!  I'm still continuing with posting my kids' cards for Simon Says Stamp Special Children's Challenge.

This is a card by my older son.  He picked Milton & Teddy stamp from Wild Rose Studio.  I haven't even used this stamp yet so I'm happy he picked it.  He colored it with pencils and did the background and drew in some birds.  He also added some foam flowers and animals.  I think he still rushes with coloring.  He is not that patient but at least he stayed in the lines.

I think he chose to give this to his great-grandma for Easter.  At home, the kids did their treasure hunt to find their crocheted animals.  I think I made some of the riddles a bit too hard.  But they solved them all eventually.  We also had Easter egg coloring and a hunt afterwards at their great-grandma's house.  It used to be only our daughter doing the hunt since she was the only child in the family but now there are 5 kids so it gets really fun. 

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Bella's birthday

Hi!  Ready for another Wild Rose Studio Bella card?  I know lots of you fell in love with the one I made HERE.  I bought my Bella stamps from All That Scraps but they are selling out pretty quickly.  iCopic is another place I know sells them but they may be selling out as well.  Oh, check out Stamp and Create too.  Really, who can resist cute, chubby little Bella?  Love her!  Every time I write Bella, it reminds me Edward's Bella from Twilight, hahaha.  Bella the elephant is way cuter!

I followed the current sketch at The Deconstructed Sketch #46.

Okay, so everyone say it with me, awwwww, she's so cute!  This image is called Bella's Birthday, hence my post title.  I know, I'm so witty like that.  Bella is so quick to color up too since I just made her gray but now I'm thinking she could be a lot of fun whimsical colors like blue and pink and purple.

I colored in the dots of her balloon with my white gel pen and then added stickles to them.  The tiny tag and sentiment are from Papertrey Ink.  I wanna pinch her cheeks and hug her belly!  Hahaha.  She makes me happy!  Think I will stare at her for a while.

The papers are from the Bella paper pad.  Adorable!  And the scalloped doily die cut is from Magnolia.

Thanks for reading!

sweet baby

Hi!  Happy April!  The months are definitely flying by.  And the weather here is so nice today!  So much better than the rain and thunderstorms we had some time ago.  But I know in a few days I'll be complaining that it's too hot.  Hehe.

Recently, I broke down and finally ordered the cute little elephant named Bella from Wild Rose Studio.  Just like how I did when I saw the cute penguin, Pickles last Christmas.  All of the Bella stamps are so adorable! 

I picked Bella Sleeping for this card to play along with iCopic Weekly Challenge #76 -- For a Child and used All That Scraps sketch.

Is she just the cutest little elephant ever?  She looks so soft and cuddly.  I also bought the matching Bella paper pad!

I colored the image with Copics.  I also rubbed some chalk over the flowers and for the light blue sky which may be difficult to see.  The tiny tag and sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

I don't even know anyone with a baby right now to give this card too but just couldn't resist this sweet image. 

Short post today.  Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Happy Birthday

Hello.  Here's another birthday card from me.  Seems like I only make stuff at the last minute when I really need it somewhat urgently for an upcoming occasion.  Then I have to browse for sketches and color challenges.  So this week I'm using the colors from the Play Date Cafe Challenge #115.  And the Deconstructed Sketch No. 35.

And here's my card...  The 30's have gone by so fast, now everyone is starting to turn 40.

This is the boy stamp that Eva got me from Sister Stamps, so cute with the bowl cut.  He was quite large, so I made the card a little larger at 5.5 by 6.5 inches.  Now I realize I didn't check if I had an envelope to fit the card, oops.  Most of the cardstock is Papertrey Ink, Bazzill for the gray numbers, the patterned paper from Wild Rose Studio, Milton and Co., maybe a little flowery for a boy (uh, middle aged man) card.

I actually tried to sew on my card this time.  I even had some gray thread so I used that as well.  At first I thought the tension was too tight, even on auto, but after I loosened it, the stitches got too loose (hence the bumpy looking stitches on some areas).  Then the first stitched line that I thought was too tight, actually loosened up and ended up looking the best.  Next I have to work on sewing straight.

OK, finally that's it for me, took me so long to type this up between taking a break for the Ladybug game and getting the kids ready for bed.  Bye!