April Christmas Cards

I got back from New York City today and I am exhausted! So, here is just a photo. I'm sure you can see the rest.

April Scrapbooking Challenge

I hosted this month's Scrapbooking Challenge at my online group, R-C-S. The challenge:

1 - 2 -3 Challenge

1 - Use only 1 word for your title

2 - Use 2 photos on your page, and only two.

3 - April showers bring May flowers so use 3 flowers somewhere on your
page



My title was actually 2 words but 1 phrase - Honolulu, Hawaii. Both of my photos are looking down on Honolulu from Round Top Drive. Amazing views, huh? Lot of concrete! I have three flowers along the middle of the page along with lots of circles, buttons, and chipboard buttons. I don't use lots of circles on my pages and I don't really clutter things like this, but I love the way it turned out. Here are a few close-ups of the circles and flowers.









Thanks for dropping by!

Lots of cards

If you followed my blog last year, you will remember me participating in a monthly Christmas Card Challenge. The gals at RCS and I are at it again. My goal is to complete 5 Christmas cards a month so I am not frantically trying to get my cards done on December 1. Each month, a participant also posts a challenge to go along with our Christmas cards if we want to participate. Here is the challenge for January:

I know for me, when I look at my stash, I can get a tad overwhelmed,
so challenges and ideas help me focus.

Remember - these are just to provide some inspiration or a little
extra fun - they are not required, and there is no pressure!

Here is the first challenge you may wish to incorporate when making
your CCCs.

"Cleaning up"

I know some of you may be super organized and already have everything
put away after the Holidays - but for any of us that have extra small
bits of wrapping paper, small bags, Christmas cards from that distant
relative that you don't want to keep, but you like the design of....or
even a spare ornament hanger you found in the carpet....

Find a way to incorporate those last few bits of your 2008 into your
first set of 2009 cards.

I didn't have anything lying around as I had all my Christmas cleaned up by the 2nd of January. In a small apartment, you can't just leave things like that lying around or you won't have a path to walk. I did however, keep to all scraps/stash to make my cards. I did 5 of the same card with the only difference being the sticker found in the bottom right corner. These are simple and not too Christmas-y for those friends that don't celebrate. I found last year I didn't have enough generic wintery-type cards for some friends so I am hoping these work this year.





I also got a few thank you cards finished. Five down, only 20 more to go.

Three of this one: Each card has different photos of flowers, otherwise they are the same.





Two of this one: These are identical.

Fun October Pages

Hey everyone. Remember that October challenge I posted a while back? There were so many great pages that I just had to share.

Lori did an amazing job with this digital layout. Isn't her title FUN?







M-C put together this DPS. Her page has so many details. Did you see those crazy pumpkins?


















Here is Lynne's page. Her title font is so cute and I love the stripped paper.











Some of the gals uploaded their pages to Webshots so I was unable to download them. However, no worries. You can still check out their pages. Here is Kate's page. I love the digital layout she did. Last (but not least, I hope) if you missed my page you can see it here.

If you completed the challenge and I missed you, could you please leave me a comment with the URL of your page? I would love to post it!

Thanks everyone that played along. October was so much fun. I will be posting the November challenge soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

October Monthly Challenge

Hey everyone! I am heading up a monthly scrapbooking challenge at one my online groups. This month's challenge focused on Halloween, of course. Here is the challenge:

Could the theme be anything other than Halloween?! Using the colors of green, purple and/or orange create a 1 or 2 page LO using Halloween pictures you already have from past years. If you're caught up (hardee har har) create a 1 or 2 page LO in anticipation of a Halloween picture you will take this month. Halloween pictures can be pictures of anything from costumes, a party or a really cool Jack-O-Lantern you carved.

I'm adding one more component to this challenge. It stems from me having to move all my punches to a larger drawer. I seldom use them and having to puzzle them into a small drawer was frustrating. As I moved them to a larger drawer it reminded me of all the cool punches I have. So, I'm challenging everyone to dust off and use a punch on the October challenge LO also. Any shape punch you have just tell us what you used. Of course, I didn't have any photos that needed to be scrapped so I left the orange panel for the photos from this year. I am already ahead of the game I suppose.

I think the main reason for this challenge is to get us all back into creating scrapbook LO's. If you find the challenge stifling rather than encouraging feel free to do whatever you want. I want to see us all sharing our LO's each month.

If you're a digital scrapper everything goes except for the punch. Can you create a punch like shape with your digital programs?



And here is my page. Sorry for the mediocre photos. My good camera is on the fritz. Guess that means I know what is on my Christmas wish list. These papers are from Top Line Creations and were a gift from my friend, M-C and I just love them. This is my first experience with TLC and I am loving it.

For the punch part of the challenge, I had to get creative because I think I own 2 punches, a circle and corner. How sad is that? I guess I manage okay. I used my circle punch to create these cute pumpkins. I used markers to draw cute little faces and stems. In this photo you can also see I added a border to the orange photo mat with a marker.

After looking at the page I felt it needed something. I decided to add this cute spider handing from the top of the page. I colored each spider in with markers. I think he is just the cutest. You wouldn't believe it. After I complete this page, for some reason this little guy disappeared. I can't find him anywhere. I guess that is what happens when you keep your scrappin materials in a tote. Oh well, I guess the things made with him will be unique. I finished the page up by adding a matching pumpkin sticker also from the TLC collection. The stamps came from the Dollar Target Bin (another reason I am not too worried about the little guy).

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Halloween is coming up! Do you have your costumes?

Thanks for stopping by!

More Christmas Cards

Hey everyone. Thanks so much for all the well wishes about my new job. It is going great so far and I love knowing that a paycheck will be coming in. I have been in Denver for 2 1/2 months now and I love it. I am so happy we decided to come here. I am still not used to the cold, but I can now stand (sort of) 60 degree weather. I am very excited to see snow again, although I am not sure I am ready to go outside in it. I will be happy to view it through my window.

Speaking of cold weather and snow, I will definitely experience a white Christmas this year. At least I better! Here are my Christmas cards for the month of September. I made two of each design. One of each design will be sent overseas to our soldiers and the others will available for purchase in my Etsy store. I am doing a very cool project this year called Mission Soldier Support where any card (Christmas or otherwise) purchased in my store from October 1 to November 7 can be sent to soldiers overseas. Simply put MSS or Mission Solder Support in the comments to seller (me) and I will place that card to the side and ship it to our project coordinator with the other cards to be sent overseas. Pretty cool, huh? I am very excited and proud to be a part of this. So, here are my cards. If they are not listed in my shop when you read this, they will be listed soon.















Thanks for stopping by!

August Christmas Card Challenge

Here are the cards I made for my group's Christmas Card Challenge. All of the images are hand-drawn by Moi'.















I am really proud of my images. Much cheaper than stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter Weekend

Aloha everyone. Happy Easter and Good Friday! I hope everyone has awesome plans for the weekend. I know that I can't wait for some R&R! Before I head off on my much needed vacation I thought I would share the second of 3 Christmas cards for my March Christmas Card challenge.



My card is a 4 1/4" square (one day I will be something besides a square) piece of red Bazzil cardstock. I then added a 4" square of green paper from American Traditions. The center imagr from Stampendous is stamped on basic white cardstock, then matted on red bazzil then matted on a larger basic white circle. I used Bic Coloring markers to color in my image and added a dotted border around the larger white circle. I added a huge piece of peppermint ribbon to the bottom to finish off the card.

I really like how this card turned out...so I made a couple of them. :D To see the first card for my March challenge, see THIS POST.

Mahalo for stopping by!

Lots of Green

Happy Belated St. Paddy's Day everyone! As you know I am part of an online group that is working on Christmas cards. One of the added challenges is to incorporate a green focal point in your card in honor of Saint Patrick. Why not use a green present? Everyone loves green presents!



My card is a 4 1/4 inch square of basic green with a second layer of green bazzil cardstock followed by a piece of scrap Christmas paper from My Mind's Eye layered next. After rounding the corners of my card, I also rounded the corners of the Christmas paper. Using the same green bazzil paper, I cut a present using the gift Sizzlit and mounted it on a basic white circle cut with my Creative Memories Circle Cutting System. I used a green Bic marker to dot a border around the present and finished with a bit of American Crafts ribbon.

I like this card so well, I made two using up the rest of my Christmas paper scraps. I hope you enjoyed it :D

If you didn't read my !FABULOUS NEWS! check the blog post below.

Mahalo for stopping by!

A Little Early...

but that's alright. In a previous post I told ya'll about a Christmas card challenge that I am working on with an online group I am a part of. Well, I have been busy! I got three Christmas cards done yesterday. My goal every month is five which should give me plenty of cards for Christmas time and I won't have to rush in.

This first card was created using Beate's Weekend Sketch. She is such a talented lady. I haven't been able to play with any of her sketches in a while so I was excited to have time for this card. The accomplishment: All these cards were make with my stash! woo-hoo! The base is a 4 1/4" x 9" piece of Bazzil red folded in half. The polka-dotted paper is from My Mind's Eye and the brads were left-over from last year's Ebay binge. I'm not sure what brand that ribbon is; I got it is a huge mass of ribbon in a gift this past Christmas. The Christmas tree stamp is from Stampendous and was colored with Bic Markers.

This second card was inspired by a fellow sistahs February sketch challenge. Lynn had a great sketch so I decided to play along. This card is the same size as the previous one and uses the same Stampendous stamp. I started with Bazzil green as a base and then used last year's left-over star paper by My Mind's Eye. The ribbon you see is from American Crafts and coordinated perfectly with the colors in the paper. I used a present stamp from Hero Arts to put under the tree and popped it up with pop-dots. Lastly I used a glitter gel pen to doodle along the edges of the layers.

Last but not least is a card I am especially proud of. I took this 4 1/2" x 9" piece of Bazzil green and layered it under a 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" piece of basic white. I then used my Bic Markers to hand-draw this tree and limbs along with the 'Christmas lights' around the branches. I added heart die-cuts as ornaments. One of the added challenges was to find a way to incorporate hearts into a Christmas card since it is February. I think I did pretty well getting those hearts in there. The largest ones are popped up with pop-dots. I'm not sure why I am so proud of this one. I think it is because I drew it myself and didn't rely on stamps to make the image. Anywho, I hope you like it just as much as I do. This is going to be one I mass-produce for people, but without the hearts I think.

Mahalo for stopping by! Sorry about the long post!

Gung Hey Fat Choy!

Wishing you Wealth and Prosperity!

Aloha Everyone! Well, things with the thesis are going well. No major problems thus far; I just hope it stays that way! Hope everyone is having a great weekend :D We spent the day ringing in the Chinese New Year in Chinatown here in Honolulu which hopefully explains the title of the post :D. It was a day of festivities and good Chinese food! You can check out a small video below I uploaded to youtube if you want. The Chinese tradition involves the Lion Dance to invite the new year as well as ward off evil spirits. Money (traditionally put in red envelopes) are offered to the lions. It is a great tradition to participate in since Hawaii has a HUGE Chinese population. For more info about the Chinese New Year, see THIS ARTICLE



Now, on the Stampin! I received this adorable card from my Secret Sistah. I can't wait to figure out who she is because she is one amazing stamper!



I am part of another online group - RCS - and we are doing a mini Christmas challenge. We get to set our own Christmas card goals each month and to mix it up a bit, we throw in our own monthly challenge to work into a Christmas theme. This is January's card. I set my goal at 5 a month because I never need that many cards. The other mini challenge was to use a non-traditional color theme so I chose pink and brown. The card is simple enough. I used Fiskars dry-embossing templates to emboss snowflakes on the pink layer. The three circles are a mitten, snowflake, and 'let it snow' (I am unsure of who the set is by, sorry!) and are attached with some cute red and white fibers. I added two photo corners to the other side. As I was looking at it, I decided that side was pretty bare-thus photo corners :D

As always, Mahalo for stopping by. My sistahs are so awesome. They keep me sane and happy through all this blah I have this month!

Happy Happy Almost End of 2007

Aloha everyone! I thought I would share a thank you card I made for one of my Secret Santa's. This is for SCS's sketch challenge a few weeks ago. I thought it would make an appropriate thank you :) The card base is a red 4 1/4" x 9" piece of cardstock folded in half. The wonderful and festive polka-dot paper is from My Mind's Eye and is cut 1/4" smaller. I used my small circle punch to punch three white circles to be my snowman and then 2 circles from used wrapping paper to fit the sketch. I assembled those first on basic green and then blue. For the right I added two eyelets and then added this beautiful American Crafts ribbon. I love how the colors match! I used Hero Arts Alphabet to stamp thanks on white them layered on blue before adhering to the card.

Isn't my snowman cute? I sure think so. Mahalo for stopping by! Happy New Year!

Swap Update

A little while back I showed you Calendar CD's that I had created for a swap. Well, I know have the complete set from the R-C-S ladies! Everyone did such a wonderful job and created absolutely beautiful CD's that I just have to show you!







Mahalo for stopping by! Aloha!

CD Calendars Are Finished--Spoiler Alert for RCS

I told you I would get the CD Calendars finished this weekend. So, in the online scrap group that I am a part of, we decided to do a CD Calendar swap. Twelve of us each had a different month and since I love August (it is my birthday!) that is what I chose. Lots of popcicles, snglasses, and beach wear! I though these turned out great. I used American Traditions Beach Fun paper, Bobbins ribbon, and not sure what brand those embellies are....oh wait, just kidding; those are Dress It Up. I just love that line of embellishments! As soon as the swap is complete I will post all the months so you can see how talented the ladies at R-C-S is!

Under Da Sea

So, continuing on with my card-free weekend, I decided to participate in a challenge that is going on at R-C-S, the online scrap group that I am a part of. One of the lady's there had a great idea to pick ideas from a scrappin' magazine and create her layouts from there. I don't have the magazine she was using, I don't have any magazines as a matter of fact, but I decided to participate anyway.

The instructions were to use buttons, die-cuts and stickers on your layout from your stash. I thought this was perfect because, like the rest of the ladies, that is what I had a lot of! I had two photos of our snorkeling adventure at Hanauma Bay that needed to be scrapped so I created Under Da Sea. I used buttons to create a starfish for the bottom of the page and to make bubbles from the fish. The octopus and fish were die-cuts from my LSS and the stickers were a huge miss-mosh of letters that I hadn't used. There is no consistency in those letters at all! I think they look good though.

The paper is from the American Traditions Beach Fun paper pack that I just can't seem to stay away from. The colors are too cute and perfect for my Hawaii layouts. The photos and journaling were mounted on mint green card stock. The journaling says: "When snorkeling at Haunama Bay, we realized that life really was better..." which fits perfectly with my title "Under Da Sea" I used a blue gel pen to do faux stitching around the words of the title to make them pop a little from the page but I realize you can't really see this in the photo.

No stamps, no ink, no problem. It has been a great weekend of good ole scrappin' :)