Thanks A Latte!

First thing we did when we got back from our trip to Cali was to go pick up our little Latte from the playcare facility we had left her to stay at while we were gone. She always seems to enjoy her stay there, and the people there do such a great job of taking care of her that it puts our minds to ease, especially when we have to be gone for an extended period of time.
Decided to do a thank you card to go along with a few goodies we brought back to let them know how much we appreciate all the love and care they give to Latte while we are away.

I used my CottageCutz Shih Tzu Peeker die and cut her in white so she'd look more like a Maltese for the front of my card. The word "Thanks" was cut using the Mickey Font cartridge. Then on the inside, I used the same CottageCutz die for the doggy's head, but used the Birthday Puppy die for the doggy's body. A tad bit out of proportion, but hopefully not too noticeable! Used ttf LD Charming Bold for the sentiment on the inside, using MTC to convert it into a cutfile with a shadow.

Had to keep it simple, as I had to hurry to put this together before we left on our trip. Hope they got a kick out it!

In Love Forever

This has been a summer of many weddings for our family...and since I have recently been busy designing my own dd's wedding invitations, my stash of white and off white papers has grown considerably, making it easier for me to come up with cards for all the weddings we've been invited to. This tri-fold card is one I created for my cousin's daughter who got married this weekend in LA.

Heart shaped filigree window frame and cut out are from the Sweethearts cartridge, "forever" is from Home Decor, and banner from Wedding Solutions cartridge. Doves are an old 2x2 Quickutz die.I used an embossing folder from a Sizzix wedding set to emboss the base card and an embossing folder from the Cuttlebug Love Language Card Making Combo Set for the tiny heart pattern on the inner heart. Silver mylar sticker paper was used to cut the word "forever"...really loved how the Cricut cut through the mylar "like butter", similar to the way it cuts thru vinyl. After cutting, vinyl transfer tape made it so easy to transfer and position this intricate cut  onto its shadow.

Added a couple more doves to the inside of the card, this time with their wings trimmed and placed them on branches cut from the Stampin' Up bird punch. Flatback pearls and stickles for the heart and a simple flourish cut from the From the Nest cartridge to the sentiment were the finishing touches. 

New Stamps and Dies In Town

Sister Stamps, a brand new rubberstamp company hailing from Hilo, has taken the islands' crafting community by storm with their first release of three adorable Asian girls, Kiyomi, Mei Lin and Mei Li in rubber. Be sure to check out their blog to see some awesome cards and projects as our talented island crafters ink these cuties up! I did, and woo hooo!!!....look at these precious goodies I won in their first blog giveaway! Thank you, Jenny and Denise!
Sister Stamps promises another set of cuties come September, so keep a close watch on their blog for yet another sweet giveaway soon!

Here's my very first card using my new stamps. I chose to use Kiyomi and Mei Lin (please pardon the beginner level copic coloring...) and added a die cut kanji for "friend" from the Pagoda cartridge. Dressed it up with sakura outlines which were cut out using my brand new Cherry Blossoms Outline die by Wiki C.A.P.S. Aren't these the coolest? Wiki C.A.P.S. is  a new exclusive line of wafter thin dies designed by Brian of Photocraft Hawaii. Currently these are available for purchase either through the Wiki C.A.P.S. website or by visiting Brian's store, Photocraft.

Added some pretty washi paper and a stamped Hero Arts sentiment to my card and it was done. Round  windows on the two panels were cut using the George cartridge.

So happy to see many craft companies popping up here in the islands to help fulfill our neverending hunger for highly sought out Asian themed crafting products such as these!

Bloomin' Fun!

Had a chance to play around with another die from my Cottage Cutz collection that has been collecting dust. Gotta be in the mood to do a lot of layering and chalking to work with these! This time around however, instead of using chalks, I decided to try using my copics to add color and shading.

Saw that a lot of the design team members over at the Cottage Cutz blog are doing this and acheiving beautiful results so I wanted to give it try. A few of the ladies use only white cardstock to cut all their pieces then use their copics to color everything in. I tried this with the mouse, since I wanted her to have a lot of white highlights, but used colored cardstock for everything else, using copics to add shading. I made the mistake of choosing Bazzill Bling to do the mouse, as I found the textured surface made it harder for me, a beginner level copic user to blend the colors nicely.   

Blending went a lot easier with the smooth surfaced cardstock I chose for the flowers. For the leaves and stems I went back to chalks, mostly because I didn't have the right green shades in copics. In comparison, I liked the final results with the copics, I just need to get better at using them. Chalks are messier, but easier to blend and a little more forgiving.

Each of the pieces were cut several times so I could do lots of layering for this sliding pop-up birthday card for my sil.Used Nestabilities Labels 2 die for the background and tiny ladybug is from the Just Because Cards cartridge. A time consuming, but fun to create card...LOL, this really ended up being a FAT card!

A Treasured Friendship

To thank my friend Gene for her generous gifts and the wonderful time we spent together, I sent her this window card. Since I know Gene enjoys Asian themed cards, I looked to the Pagoda cartridge for ideas.Wanted to do a cut from the cartridge that I hadn't tried yet, so I chose to do the crane.But after cutting out the pieces, I was a little disappointed with the lack of detail of the cut.

To get the signature black neck and black tipped feathers of the Japanese crane which are missing from the original image, I cut the top white layer using the blackout feature, then did some hand trimming so the black layer would show on the neck and feathers.
I used the frame from the Mulan section on the Happily Ever After Cartridge to cut my window and backed it with white cardstock embossed with one of the folders from the Cuttlebug Asian bundle. Spritzed this with some gold Tsukineko Shimmerz to add some interest.

On the inside of the card I added a matching strip of washi paper backed with gold vellum. My simple card is no match for the beautiful card I received from Gene, but I'm hoping she enjoyed it anyway.

Crafters Are So Special...

It is truly amazing how blogging has given me the opportunity to connect with so many neat people, many who have become very dear and special friends. And once in awhile, I have the good fortune of meeting these special friends in person. Such was the case with my friend, Gene. The two of us got together while I was on vacation in Las Vegas and we spent the day craft shop hopping and getting to know each other. Not only is she an amazing and talented crafter, Gene is the warmest, most thoughtful, sharing and funnest person ever!
I recently received this stunning z-fold Asian screen card created by Gene, affirming our very special friendship.

Even more breathtaking irl, my photos don't do this beautiful card justice. Like our new friendship, this card is truly a treasure!

And here's yet another wonderful handcrafted treasure I recently received from another very special friend, Claire...

It's a Hello Kitty tissue box holder! Isn't it absolutely adorable? And in my favorite color...PINK!

Each of the four sides is different, and if you click on the photos above, you will get an upclose view of all the amazing and very intricate details that went into embellishing each little Hello Kitty. Anyone can see that a lot of time, thought and love went into creating this very sweet gift...love it!

This next crafting project was one created by Michele F. during a recent Cricut Club meeting...

Michele was kind enough to do a mini demo for us on cutting with Vinyl on the Cricut machine, showing us how easy it could be to dress up a takeout box with vinyl, making it look totally fabulous. I was one of the lucky winners of the boxes she decorated and shared.

Wouldn't you agree...crafters are by far the most thoughtful, sharing and generous people around. And I am so blessed to have them as my friends!

Best Dad in the Universe

When it came time to think up Fathers Day cards, I tried very hard to come up with something "manly" but *sigh* I just wasn't able to make it happen. Had to fall back on my favorite whimsical cards again this year...sorry guys! This first card was made for my dad.

I chose to do a space themed center pleated card using the rocketship from the Nifty Fifties cartridge. To make it look like it was "blastin' off" I added the "flame" from the rocket image from the B is for Boys cartridge. And inspired by Jin's super cute submarine card, I decided to use the panda from Create A Critter to peek through the windows of the rocket.

Here's the card on the inside...

All the stars and rockets were attached to the pleated center of the card using strips of clear acetate to give the impression of them floating in space.

I used my computer printer to print out the individual red letters for Happy Fathers Day then used star images (also from the Nifty Fiftties cartridge) to cut them out. The two small spaceships and smaller stars were cut from the Outer Space Sizzlits Decorative Strip die.

Here's a view from the top showing the top half of the card on the inside with the planets cut from the Superman cartridge. Large purple planet on the bottom half was dry embossed with a Cuttlebug Embossing folder and little green martian is from the Everyday Paperdolls cartridge.

I usually make similar style cards on Fathers Day for both my dad and dh but this year was different. I let my guard down one day and dh got a full view of my dad's card as I was putting it together. "Oh, that's a neat card!" he said. With the element of surprise now gone, I somehow felt compelled to create something different for dh. So this is the card he got instead...

At first glance, no one would ever guess this was a card for a guy. Short on time, and pressured to quickly come up with something different, I guess I wasn't thinking straight. It wasn't until after the card was finished that I took a good look at it and realized...OOPS!...the cuts on the front of the card weren't quite appropriate for a "guy card".

I guess if you read the greeting on the front panel, you might understand why I added the diamond ring, perfume and roses. (The ring and roses came from the Sweethearts cartridge and bottle of perfume from the Paisley cartridge.)

On the inside of the card, I used a floating tabletop pop-up, which I learned to do from a tutorial over at my favorite go-to  place for interactive cards, Carol's Extreme Cards And Papercrafting blog.

A view from the top shows two of the three the I-beams that hold the candy 1-1/2 inches above the card to give the illusion of it floating...

For the inside of this card, the big Sugar Daddy candy (remember those?...mmm...yum!) was created in Design Studio by welding various shapes from the George cartridge.Confetti embellies on the candy wrapper and background are also from George. I used glitter cardstock from DCWV to cut the candy, and the name "Sugar Daddy" is from Mickey Font cut in red vinyl.

Awww...and isn't this little puppy just adorable? She's cut from Cottage Cutz' Shih Tsu Peeker die. I did her in white and left out the fuzzy eyebrows from the original die so she'd look more like our Maltese, Latte. "xoxo" and "love you" were created in MTC using Lettering Delights true type font, LD  Charming Bold, and popped up with foam tape.

So while the front of dh's Fathers Day card didn't turn out too well, I hope he enjoys what's inside! Meanwhile, hope everyone is enjoying Fathers Day with the men in your lives. Don't forget to let those guys know that they are truly loved and appreciated!