Tsuru Gift Bags

When dd and her fiance decided to have their wedding in Hawaii, we were so pleased! After they had selected their venue, the first thing we worked on were the invitations. More about that later... The second project I wanted to get started on right away was the folding of her 1001 origami cranes. Known as a wedding tradition in Hawaii, originating shortly after World War II, the 1000 origami cranes or "senbazuru" is said to bring the newlyweds a thousand years of happiness, and the 1 last crane is for good luck.

Realizing this would take quite a bit of time to finish, I wanted to get started early. I recruited the help of friends and family and together with everyone's help, including dh (yes! he's an expert at it and folded over 300 of them!) we had over a thousand cranes folded in two and a half months. Yay!

As thanks and appreciation for everyone who helped, we filled these decorated bags with yummies.The tsuru or origami crane cutfile is the same one I created in MTC and used on a card earlier last year. This time I used metallic gold cardstock to cut these out and used vinyl transfer tape to remove the cuts from the mat. This assured that all the many pieces of the crane would stay in their correct positions when I transferred them to its' shadow. Sakura were cut using the sakura and sakura outlines dies from WikiCAPS, branches are a die from Quickutz and pine tufts were hand cut.

Once again, thank you for everyone who helped to fold cranes. It was so good to get these done early and not have to worry about it!

So Inspired!

I want to share photos of two very special handmade projects I received quite awhile ago that I never had a chance to post...naughty me! Both of these projects have recently inspired me to come up with similar creations which I will post later, but I really want to be able to give credit to where the original ideas came from.  The first is this awesome thank you card from dh's super talented and creative aunt which just knocked me off my feet...

Removing the belly band reveals an amazing tri-panelled screen card which opens up to showcase a beautiful glittered lotus blossom tucked inside what I can only best describe as a framed shadowbox. I've never seen a card of this style before, and I just LOVE the way Aunty Mollie put this card together... breathtakingly beautiful!

Here's a close up of the lotus flower... with all the intricate glittering and coloring (alcohol inks?). Truth be told, this amazing card has been sitting on my craft table for over a year...with the intention that I would hopefully one day try to figure out how it was put together so I could make one too. But all the precise measuring and cutting I knew would be required to re-create of the shape of the panels and shadow box to get all the pieces to fit accurately kept me from attempting this project for a very long time.

The second project is this cute little milk carton birdhouse favor, created by a sweet friend and super talented fellow Cricuteer club member, Aileen. Aileen created a cutfile for the milk carton and roof in Design Studio, and used the Give A Hoot cartridge for the other cuts.

I was so amazed and loved all the wonderful details she added to transform her milk carton into this adorable miniature birdhouse! Later, when my dd asked if I would make birdhouse favors for her upcoming lovebirds themed wedding, I remembered and was inspired by Aileen's project.

Heartfelt thanks to Aunty Mollie and Aileen for sharing their amazing treasures with me! I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very good at coming up with new and creative ideas...but it's the extra special  creations like these that always manage to amp up my mojo to get me inspired to create!

More Holiday Goodies To Share

More goodies from talented friends to share! Pictured here are cards and treats that dh recently excitedly brought home, which were created by a dear friend who is also one of dh's very talented and creative co-workers...

Super cute punch art Santa M & M candy toppers and sweet treat bags of kisses...

And look at these super FUN and adorable spinning penny cards! Though I've seen tutorials for these spinning cards  before, I was only  mildly interested in them...until we received these! With a slight tilt to the right, the little snowball spins round and round...(squeals of delight!)  Gwen's version of these cards have got to be the CUTEST I've ever seen and now I can hardly wait to try one too!

I just love how this adorable little snowman rolls round and round downhill! Everything about these cards is beautifully done with so much attention to detail...the stamping, paper piecing and inking.  Thank you so much, Gwen! Your sweet projects brought such a smile to our hearts that I just HAD to share!

Feeling So Special...

Don't you just LOVE getting Happy Mail? I do! I received some fabulous goodies in the mail in recent weeks and just have to share! I nearly fell off my seat when I found these treasures in my mail!!! This beautiful birthday card and box were lovingly created and sent from my dear friend Gene...

Gene used kime komi or oshie style techniques to put together this exquisite washi quilted heart for the front of this very special birthday greeting. Gene enjoys creating Asian themed cards and projects the most....and I can see why...she does such beautiful work! I just love how she used the pretty sakura blossom stickers to accent the front and inside of this card....

Also included was this very pretty box. Untie the bow and the box opens up like a book.  Inside are three little compartments, filled with adorable little glittered embellishments... so clever!

Then from yet another very special friend, Patti from Creations by Patti...

...this AMAZING decorated album!  This is the front of the box which holds the album. The sentiment on the front is behind a window/frame which can be replaced with a photo....

Inside the box, a mini album which slides out..

Here's the front of the album inside, covered with more of that beautiful washi paper. Everything is so beautifully finished and edged in gold.

True to Patti's unique style, everything is about attention to detail. These beautiful charms hang from the spine of the album. And check out the beautiful chrysanthemum embossing on the inside cover of the album. Definitely a keepsake that will be treasured forever!
Big hugz and mahalos(thanks) to Gene and Patti for making me feel so special! You gals are just amazing, and I am truly blessed to have you in my life as friends!!!!

And last, but certainly not least, I wanted to share this photo of this little suprise from my dh that was delivered to me on my birthday at work. It looks like my little Latte came to visit! LOL, this has got to be the absolutely cutest & sweetest floral arrangement I've ever received! These flowers brightened my day and brought a smile to my heart at work everyday for nearly two weeks!

Cricuteers Holiday Party

We had our second annual Cricut Club Holiday party today...so much fun! For our gift swap, we were asked to bring a gift either decorated or created with our Cricut. For my gift, I decided to decorate an OXO Good Grips Pop container with another dragon image, this time cut in vinyl.

This Chinese paper cut dragon image is one I had previously come across while searching the internet but did not use for my earlier New Years jars project because it was a bit too intricate and the resolution of the original image was too low to get a good cut in MTC. Determined to create a cutfile of this image, I found some time after the holidays to re-scan and do some extensive editing in Photoshop to boost it's resolution so it would render a cuttable file.

I used black and red Oracal 651 vinyl for the cuts so it would be washable, and created shadow layers using gold mylar. Then baked up a batch of almond cookies to put inside.

Really wanted to give my new Cheery Lynn Designs Dragon die a try...just love how intricate their dies are! Had to run it twice through my Big Shot machine with a metal shim and spend some time pushing out all the tiny pieces, but I think the results are well worth the extra time. Backed the dragon cut with gold foil cardstock and used it to decorate the bag for my gift.

I tried to get photos of all the gifts that were swapped at our party, but unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to match the names of the creators with their creations.

Nevertheless, I wanted to share the photos of all the awesome gifts. Everyone in our group is so amazingly creative and inspiring!

 

We spent the afternoon lunching on bentos, playing games and having a good time together. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to put this together! Looking forward to spending yet another fun year of creative Cricut crafting with the Cricuteers!

Enter the Year of the Dragon

I guess the Year of the Dragon doesn't officially start until the 23rd, but since my family gets together to celebrate New Years on the 1st, I decided to use a dragon image to decorate the jars of cereal mix I shared with my family today.

The dragon image I used comes from the Pagoda cartridge. I wasn't entirely happy with the way he looks, so I did do quite an extensive image search on the internet hoping to find a better image to render into a cutfile but was unable to find one that would cut well or quickly enough for this last minute quickie project. Reluctantly, I settled on using the dragon from the Pagoda cartridge and welded the "2012" using the Don Juan font onto its shadow in Design Studio.

The Chinese character for "dragon" was easier to find, and I used MTC to render it into a simple cutfile to place next to the dragon. Background patterned paper for the label comes from a digital pack called "Dreams of Japan" which I downloaded from another favorite digital site, Designer Digitals.

Decorated 13 of these and wrapped the jars in cellophane bags, finishing them off with this round seal. Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year of good health, good fortune and good times!

Is it Christmas Already?

I wasn't going to do Christmas this year....been so busy with "other important stuff" that I just didn't think I'd have the time. So what could possibly be more important than Christmas?!!! Sigh...sorry, I can't post about it just yet...but I will definitely have a lot to share about this "other" project in a few months from now...

For the first time in 31 years we didn't put up a tree to decorate in our home. It usually takes me several days to decorate the tree and another several days to take it down after holidays...this was time I just didn't have this year. The only tree I had time for was this tiny one I decorated to take to my fil's grave. Happily, it brought some holiday spirit into my heart so I could sneak in just a few more quickie holiday projects...




And though I had also decided I wouldn't be doing my usual 100 handmade Christmas cards this year, I knew there was no getting out of making the batches of cereal mix dh passes out to his co-workers every Christmas. Baked up two batches and packed them into twenty plastic jars for giving....but they looked so naked that I just HAD to come up with something quick and simple to dress them up just a little bit!

Printed up strips of Echo Park digital patterned paper from their "All I Want For Christmas" set which was on sale over at Jessica Sprague.com to go around the jars. Love that I can purchase papers online and download them immediately to use even in the middle of the night when all the stores are closed... the procrastinator and late night crafter's dream come true!

The little peeking polar bears are a cut I actually designed in Make the Cut last year but didn't have time to put to use last Christmas. Labels were printed from my computer and cut using Nestabilities Labels Four dies.

I loved that the polar bears were so quick and easy to put together that I couldn't resist cutting out a few extras in a smaller size to put on gift tags... but sadly, that was the extent of my holiday projects for this year. Used the Nestabilities Lacey Circle die and Marvy Uchida 2" scalloped circle punch for the base of the tag, an old Quickutz die for the holly and Fiskars hand punch for the heart.

One last project I want to share are these goodies dh brought home from work this week. This adorable decorated take out box filled with an assortment of yummy cookies and this "too-darned- cute-to-eat" decorated Santa cooky were created by Heather. Isn't she amazing?
Hope everyone is having a wonderful time celebrating the holidays with friends and family. Merry Christmas!