Wednesday, November 30, 2011

BLOGAVERSARY CANDY - Round 2

This candy is now closed. Thank you .

This post will remain at the top until the deadline of this candy. Please scroll down to view newer posts. Thank you. :-)

Hi Peeps!!! Hope you're all having a fabulous week.

Are you ready for Round 2 of my 2-year blogaversary celebration? Okie dokie, here are the deets......

1) You must be a follower of my blog.
2) One entry per person please.....thank you.
3) Leave a comment telling me what craft item(s) is/are on your Christmas wish list.
4) Please DO NOT post this candy on your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 10:00 p.m. (Hawaii Standard Time). The winner will be announced on 12/9/11.

I want to spice it up a bit so if I reach 110 followers BEFORE the deadline of this candy, I will post one more candy after the winner of this one is announced.

Here's a list of goodies the lucky winner will receive:
"Furry Embrace" stamp by Penny Black
Oriental girl stamp by Stampettes
"Thinking of You" clear mini stamp set by Studio G
"Congrats" clear mini stamp set by Studio G
"Seasons Greetings" clear mini stamp set by Studio G
"Dear Santa, I've been (naughty / good)" clear mini stamp set by Studio G
Sugarplums Holiday Emma by CC Designs
Glitter buttons by Elements
Snoopy Christmas House demensional stickers by EK Success

Thanks a million for visiting and good luck.

Hugs,
Karen

Mimi's Back

And here's one more card with sweet Mimi from the "Mimi's Christmas" set by Penny Black. Isn't she adorable? Of course, I "had to" use my snowflake embossing folder by Darice again ....my fave. The holly punch is by Martha Stewart with berries punched from my "regular" hold puncher. I inked Mimi with Copics.
Other supplies: Ribbon Banner and Eyelit Circle by Spellbinder, "Merry Christmas" by Penny Black.


And here are 6 more. I'm so happy to say I'm almost done with my Christmas cards and have most of them ready for mailing. Wooo-hoooo, YAH!!!



Thanks for popping in for a visit. Have a GREAT crafty day!

Kiyoko Playing with Sparklers

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I had a fab Saturday going to a couple of craft fairs in Hilo. Jenny's was the first and of course I got there 15 minutes before the start time. Hee-hee, that's me. Well, we go to the same hairdresser and since Debbie can't go to any craft fairs because she has to work, I asked if she wanted me to get something for her. She was so excited and asked for 4 Hello Kitty calendars (the long ones). I wanted to make sure I got those for her before they sold out and got pretty much first crack at them. BOY, FOR A SMALL FAIR, THEY SURE HAD AN ABUNDANCE OF AWESOME HANDMADE CRAFTS. WOW!!!

Today, I want to share this New Year's card featuring Kiyoko. What a cutie playing with her sparklers. I got the "tori gate" stamp by Megawa at Stamps 'n Memories last month. You know how sometimes you see a stamp and just know you gotta have it? Well, that was the case with this one because I thought it would be perfect for an Asian theme / scene. I added patches of grass (stamp from Viva Las Vegasstamps), cloud stickers (sorry no label on my pkg.), and of course that cute little pooch (by Dandelion Designs) to create a scene. Kiyoko and the cherry blossom branch are adhered with Pop-Dots to give it demension. The cherry blossom branch is a sticker by Mind Wave, Inc. that I got in Japan

Other supplies: Distress ink lightly applied (blue for the sky and green for the grass) and Copics.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you all HAVE A SCRAP HAPPY DAY.

Hugs,
Karen

Dressing Up Shimo-san

Happy Wednesday Peeps!

I just can't get enough of this snowflake embossing folder by Darice. See I told 'ya, you'd be seeing more of it and I still have one more to post with this embossing folder later....maybe next week. It's so perfect with this CUTE image of Shimo-san by Sister Stamps.

Other supplies: Banner die by Spellbinder, "Happy Holidays" by TGF, and Copics.

Here's the inside. The sentiment is by Hero Arts, snowflake punch by Marvy, and glitter cardstock by DCWV.



Woo-hoo, and here's seven of 'em. I had a blast making these.




Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a super-duper fabulous day!!!


Karen

WINNER of my Blog Candy - Round 1

Hello Peeps,
First of all, a great big hug to all of you for visiting my blog. It's been a FUN, FUN, FUN 2 years since I started my blog and I've been soooo inspired by many of you. THANK YOU!!!

Also, hop on back as I will be posting another candy very, very soon.....Round 2.

Wooo-hoooo, the lucky winner of my blog candy is LEANNE POE. Please send me an email by 9:00 p.m. on Friday, 12/2/11 (Hawaii Standard Time). If not, another name will be drawn.

Leanne said...
Happy Blogaversary Karen! Doesn't the time just fly by so fast?! Well it's been wonderful to come by and see your beautiful creations. I think the best present I have ever received was handmade cards made by my co-workers. That was really touching and very unexpected. o and this past bday my friends and family surprised me with a really awesome gift card. have a great week!

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL YOU!!!

Hugs,
Karen

Sunday, November 20, 2011

SWEET CANDY TO CELEBRATE MY BLOGAVERSARY

This candy is now closed. Please stop by tomorrow, 11/30/11 to see who the lucky winner is.
Thank you VERY MUCH for visiting my blog.

LITTLE NOTE: This post will remain at the top. Please scroll down to see my new posts. Thank you very much.

Has it been 2 years already? How time flies when you're having FUN!!! It's been an awesome journey for me filled with so much inspiration from visitors and fellow bloggers from here in Hawaii and afar. Your sweet comments also make my day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

To celebrate my 2nd blogaversary I'd like to give you a chance to win some yummy candy. You'll have a chance to win the following: Flowers from Wild Orchids, a set of clear stamps for various occasions by Hero Arts, "Exotic Blossom" stamp by Hero Arts, Christmas penguins stamp by Dandelion Designs, 2 Hello Kitty paper clips and a set of Hello Kitty stickers by Sanrio I got from Japan, Disney stickers by EK Success, stamp with image of a cute gal with shopping packages by Dandelion Designs, and "let's go shopping" stamp also by Dandelion Designs.

I made it SUPER EASY and you don't need to have a blog to enter. Simply do the following:

- Be a follower of my blog (if you are not a follower already)
- Leave a comment on this post telling me what was the best gift you ever received for any
occasion.
- One entry per person please. Thank you.
- Please DO NOT post this candy on your blog if you have one.

EASY PEASY HUH?

Enter now as the deadline is TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011 at 10:00 P.M. HAWAII STANDARD TIME. The winner will be posted on Wednesday, 11/30/11.

Mark your calendars peeps because AFTER the winner is announced, I'll be posting another candy.


GOOD LUCK and thank you again for visiting my blog. Hope you all HAVE A SCRAP HAPPY DAY.

Hugs,
Karen (aka KI)

Here Comes Mimi

Helloooo Peeps!!! Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and got to fill your tummy with LOTS of yummy food. Are you all ready for Black Friday???? Better put on your running shoes and good luck blazing thru the stores. Hope you get a steal of a deal on all your purchases.

I want to share another Christmas card featuring Mimi by Penny Black. I think she's such a cutie pie. When I started cutting around the branch, I didn't quite like the white border but you know what, after cutting around the entire branch, I LOVED it because it looks like snow. That image is from the "Magic of Christmas" set by Hero Arts.

Of course, I used my snowflake embossing folder again by Darice. My fave for sure.....and you'll be seeing more of it soon. :-)


Here's a peek at all six of 'em.


Other supplies used: Copics, "Happy Holidays" sentiment by Penny Black, Spellbinder dies, Stickles, and ribbon from Walmart.




Thanks for stopping by. HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY!!! Be safe and go get 'em.

"Yuki's" Christmas

Hey Peeps! Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. Are you ready for Black Friday? I sure am.

A few days after I got my October release of Sister Stamps holiday images, I whipped up some circle cards featuring Yuki. Oh, I think she is such a cutie hugging her Christmas stocking full of goodies. At first while deciding on my layout, I used a solid green to trim the border but found that to be too plain. When I tried this stripe DP by DCWV and thought that was perfect. On most of the cards I made for this Christmas, I used the snowflake embossing folder by Darice. I love it!!!!

Here's a peek inside. The sentiment is by Art Impressions.


Since I made several of these cards, I inked up Yuki all at once with Copics.



And prepped the cards and insides like an assembly line.



And here's the seven cards.



Other products used: Spellbinder dies and Stickles.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Back from Japan

Helloooo Peeps! We just returned from Japan a few days ago and I can finally share some pix with you. It's been crazy busy since we got back. This was my very first trip to Japan and my hubby's 4th. We stayed at the Hotel Metropolitan in Ikebukuro in Tokyo.

I was warned that there'd be LOTS of people but OMG it seemed more like millions. On the night we arrived, we decided to go to Seibu, a huge multi-level store at the train station. Not knowing when "pauhana" (end of the work day) time was, we got to the train station at about 6:45 pm. WOWZER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was a MASSIVE AND UNBELIEVABLE number of "men in black" in their black suits and women in a constant flow scrambling thru the station. A couple of guys were full-on sprinting. I told my hubby they look like an army of human ants. LOL. Yikes! I hung on to my hubby's arm so tight so we wouldn't get separated. I must've cut some blood circulation in his arm. LOL. What an experience.



We did soooooooo much walking that by the 3rd day, I needed to take Aleve for my sore left knee. We just had to cut out the night time walking which put my legs over the edge. About the 3rd day, we caught the train to Ueno as we were headed to Asakusa. After getting off the train, hubby said, "Oh, I think we can walk to Asakusa. It's not too far from here." YEAH RIGHT. No way Jose. I told him, "We're catching a cab." WHOA, that was quite far. If we walked it, my legs would've fallen off, plus we'd probably get lost too.



Speaking of getting lost, we had to ask for directions so many times and shared some Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts (tetra packs, those little triangular pkgs.) to whoever helped us. Boy, were they happy. One security guard continued thanking us as we walked away. When we were about 40 feet away, I could still hear him. I turned around and he kept bowing and saying, "ARIGATO GO ZAI MASU." I smiled and waived to him. Glad we could spread some aloha. :-)




Shortly after getting out of the cab, a guy approaches us and "sold" us a ride on the rickshaw. HOW FUN!!! But poor guy, he was perspiring. Good thing we took the shortest ride. And here we are with the Hawaiian "shaka".....


OK this next picture doesn't look too appetizing but at Nakamise Dori we both ate the pumpkin age-manju. Jenny, you weren't kidding. That stuff was so good that after we made our round shopping and munching on other goodies, we went back and bought one of each of the other types and took them back to our hotel to eat though it's better to eat them fresh. They were all yummy though I didn't really care for the cherry and this other one with green specks. Don't know what that one was.




That's me in front of the temple. This is the largest temple I've ever seen. ENORMOUS!!!








One morning, my hubby looked out of our hotel window and saw snow-capped Mt.Fuji. Isn't that awesome? We heard it's rare to have a clear day and see the mountain. We were very lucky.





Hubby loves to watch Ultimate Japan. On this show he was introduced to the Matsuzaka Beef. Being a meat eater, he wanted to go to Satou Restaurant in Kichijoji that was featured on the show. Here's the owner showing him his steak before it was cooked. I had the sliced Sirloin steak that was $10.00. You don't want to know how much my hubby's meal costed. I almost fell off my seat.





Here's a shot of my hubby's meal. Looks ono yah?





There was a 7-11 near our hotel which we went to everyday. We had to try the ice creams we don't have here in Hawaii. Ummmmm, they were deeeeelicious!!!!




Lookie here. These were almost too cute and nice to eat. They were from the bakery in our hotel.




This last pix was taken as we were riding on the bus heading back to Narita Airport to return to Honolulu.



Hope you enjoyed the pix. I'll be posting my blogaversary candy within the next few days. I need to get my act together first.





Thanks for stopping by and HAVE A SCRAP HAPPY DAY.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

My November Secret Sister Swap to Gail

Hello Peeps. Hope you're all enjoying your long weekend and crafting, crafting, and crafting.

When I found out that I was Gail's secret sister for November, I must admit that I felt quite intimidated because she sent me such an awesome swap as we partners for the October C.A.T.S. (Card and Tag Swap).

Well, the November swap for the Secret Sister Swap calls for "thanks." Hey, this was actually PERFECT because I got to create this card for her to thank her for the cool swap she sent me. It's the first time I used my new Scallop 3-D Pop Up die by Sizzix.

I'll start by sharing the inside of the card. I'm still hooked on my Fair Princess stamp set by TGF so I "had to" add these cuties to the garden scene.


Here's a close-up of the top half.


And the bottom half.






Here's the front of the card. Sorry, it's not a very good pix and I had already mailed it so I couldn't take another.






I having a blast with the swaps. If you'd like to join in the fun, click here for deets on C.A.T.S. (Joy's blog) and here for the Secret Sister Swap (Kris' blog).


Other supplies used:

Stripe DP by Stampin' Up; Copics; Ribbon Banner, circle, and large scallop dies by Spellbinder; "I absolutely love it" stamp by Stampin' Up; "Sending Smiles" stamp by Hero Arts; "Thanks" stamp by I think Hero Arts (sorry, it's not noted on the stamp); Grass and butterfly punch by Martha Stewart; Decorative Swirl by Sizzix; Stickles; pearls and rhinestones by Kaiser Craft


As always, thanks for stopping by. HAPPY CRAFTING!!!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Jenny,
Happy Birthday to you.

See, I can sing in writing. You sure don't want to hear me sing in person. LOL.

Today is very a special day because it's Jenny's birthday. I'm sure you all know her as she and her sister Denise are the creators of Sister Stamps. Please hop over to her blogs and leave her some birthday love.


I said it before and I'll say it again because I really mean it. She's been a true inspiration to me and continues to be with her incredible talent and creations. THANK YOU AGAIN JENNY for introducing me to stamping. I'm having a blast and enjoying the journey. I'm hooked as hooked can be. If there's a cure, don't tell me 'kay. :-)

Just want to share the card I made for her featuring Kiyomi with a bold red background cut with my Spellbinder die and colorful washi paper by Intelligence.



I also gave her some goodies in this fry box by Sizzix.



Other products used: Copics, Happy Birthday stamp by Viva Las Vegasstamps, butterfly punch by Martha Stewart, and rhinestones by Hero Arts.

Jenny, hope you have a FAB birthday!!!

Hugs,
KI

Monday, November 7, 2011

Mimi Delivering Presents

Hi Peeps,
Hope you all had a great weekend. Do you feel Christmas in the air? I sure do and want to share this next batch of cards I made featuring Mimi by Penny Black. She's such a cutie don't 'ya think? You'll notice on this card and a couple of upcoming posts, I'm enjoying my new snowflake embossing folder by Darice which I got at Ben Franklin Crafts recently. Just love the deep and crisp impressions.

Other products used are: pine branch and pine cone stamps by Stampin' Up, Copics, Stickles, Spellbinder dies, and sentiment by Lawn Fawn.

And here are six of 'em.....one for my collection. :-)




Thanks for popping in. Come again and hope you have a super-duper day. Hugs



Thursday, November 3, 2011

NOVEMBER C.A.T.S.

Woo hoo, it's the weekend and craft fair season begins. There's a few here in Hilo so I gotta check 'em out.

I got an early start on my swap and mailed it a few days ago so I think my partner received it yesterday or today.

This month's swap calls for bling/rhinstones. Using one of my fave new stamp set "Fairy Princess" by TGF, I thought I'd use glitter paper by Doodlebug to add more "bling." Got both at Island Scrapbooking.

I love to use flowers whenever I can so of course I had to embellish this card with flowers from Wild Orchid.


Other supplies for the card: Lace punch by Martha Stewart, Copics, Spellbinder dies, sentiment by TGF "Fairy Princess" set, Stickles, Distress Ink, butterfly punch by Marvy, leaf punch by Punch Bunch, and rhinestones by Kaiser Crafts.

Here's the matching tag I made for my partner. Same supplies as the card with ribbon from Walmart.



And here's a close-up.



Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all Have A Scrap Happy Day. Hugs!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Awesome Swap from My October Secret Sis Leanne

Happy Hump Day Friends,
Extending the Halloween fun today by sharing this CUTE card I received from my October Secret Sister Leanne. I was surprised when I opened the envelope because I remember seeing this awesome card posted on her blog. I commented saying, "...guarantee her secret sister would love it." And it was ME. Oh, it just made my day. I'm definitely keeping this in my collection and "not sharing." LOL. THANK YOU LEANNE!!!

If you 'd like to join in this fun swap, check out Kris' blog here.

She also included some cool DP, Halloween stickers, and Dew Drops. I'm ready for Halloween 2012 now. :-)