A Relaxing Sunday, Just Hanging with Friends

Hope you all had a great weekend. Spent Sunday with friends (Jenny, Karen D., and "Oli") at Kilauea Lodge for brunch. Ahhh, it was so relaxing, just kicking back and catching up on things while enjoying some super yummy food. We try to get together a few times a year and I love to make little favors to share with them. This time though, I decided to make an easel card and of course wanted to use one of the Sister Stamps images and create something really special. I sure love "Yoshimi" with her fans and inked her up with Copics. Being hooked on adding beads to bling up my cards, I've been making a "ton" of 'em lately. What fun!!!!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Divas by Design Challenge - "Bling It Up"
Party Time Tuesday's Challenge - "Anything Goes"



Here's a look at the front of the card.....



.... a close up of the bow and "bling".....




....and the pretty flowers......

.....and the friendship quote inside.....

.......all three of them.....

....and here were are, just served with our yummy, yummy food. Jenny had the King's Benedict (Eggs Benedict) which she had before and said was reeeeaaallly good. I had the Grilled Chicken Salad with Mango Chutney Dressing. That was DEEEELICIOUS. Oops sorry, I can't remember what Karen D. and Oli had but I'm sure it was very "ono" (delicious).

Other supplies: Spellbinder dies, gold CS by DCWV, Distress Ink,Washi paper from Japan, pearls by Kaiser Craft, flowers by Wild Orchid, Cherry Blossom stickers by Mind Wave which I got in Japan, leaf punch by EK, ribbon by Offray, Butterfly punch by Martha Stewart, and the quote by an Unknown Author printed on the computer.

Thanks for popping in. Have a great week. Hugs.

Woo-hoo....Received Another Double-Dose of a Sweet Award

Added on 2/27/12: Just received this awesome award from Colleen from Created with Aloha also. THANK YOU COLLEEN for thinking of me and passing this Green Blend award to me. I'm really on Cloud 9 now. :-) Peeps, please click here to visit Colleen's blog for some sweet inspiration.

Hey Peeps!!! Hope you're enjoying your Sunday and much as I am. Had brunch with some friends this morning, came home and found I was given this Green Blend Award from my blogger friend, Cely. THANK YOU CELY!!!!!!!!! You made my day!!! Have you seen her creations? Simply awesome. Click here to hop onto her blog.

Here are the terms under which this "Green Blend Award" are to be given.
1.) This award is for any co-blogging friend who has helped your blog in any and all ways.
2.) This award is for any co-blogging friend who has cheered you along in your blog building, craft advancing career.
3.) This award is for any co-blogging friend who always stops by and is kind to you. You can count on them to always be one of the great comments at the end of your posts.
4.) This award is to be given to 3 to 5 Blends whom you feel meet the listed requirements.
5.) Create a post with the terms of use and publish your Blends of Choice.
6.) Blend of choice may copy the award from your blog and proudly post it on theirs.
7.) Blend of choice may continue the kindness by issuing this award to keep the circle forever growing.

I am passing this award to the following (in no particular order):
Jenny from Crazy for Paper Crafting and Sister Stamps
Leanne from Finding My Groove
Sweet from Sweetland Paper Treats
Kris from Klusive Kreations
Dora from Especially for You Cards

Thanks again Cely!!!! Big Hugs.

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL week!

Hoppy Easter

Hello Peeps! Hope you're enjoying your day / evening.

A quick post tonight as I need to hit the sack. LOL. I inked up this Easter bunny image by Hero Arts and splashed on a bunch of Spring time colors using Copics. Gotta add in a "garden" of flowers by Prima and Wild Orchids. Do you see those pretty leaves at the top? Got them from Dora in a recent swap. She's really sweet. Can you also see the sparkly bead pin? I made it using glass beads from a couple of bracelets that I took apart. It's fun making all sorts or color combos.

I'm entering this card in the Lollipop Challenge #68 - Anything Goes. Click here for the deets if you'd like to enter your creation too. It's FUN!!!!

Other products used: Egg DP by Recollections, Spellbinder dies, leaves at the bottom by EK and Punch Bunch, butterfly punches by Martha Stewart, "Hoppy Easter" stamp by Savvy Stamps, pearls by Kaiser Crafts, ribbon by Offray, and grass stamp by Viva Las Vegasstamps.

Alrighty, it time to hit the sack. Thank you for stopping by....sure do appreciate it.

Nighty night.

Valentine's Day Card and RAK from Jeri

Hope you're all having a "dry" Sunday. Oh boy, we had some mean thunder, lightning, and heavy rains last night. I was up from 2:50 this morning and need to take a nap soon. My eyelids are getting heavy. LOL.

Look at this SUPER CUTE card Jeri (my calabash cousin) made for me. The top lifts up and the two panels on the bottom opens. This sweet bear image is by Dandelion Designs. She matched the DPs very well too.

She also sent me some AWESOME RAKS. Looky here.... there's a Bow-Easy gadget for making 4 different size bows. It's very easy and the bows turn out PERFECT everytime. No more lop-sided loops and bulky centers. The top middle item is a Ziplog bag covered with DP....sweet. I can never have enough flowers and these white ones will compliment any card and DP. The stack is by Bo Bunny (Smoochable Collection) with a pretty assortment of DPs that can be used for more than Valentine's Day. And the pkgs. of rhinestones make a sparkly embellie.

She also included a few kits from Cute Stuff that I'm eager to make. WOW, it feels like Christmas in February. THANKS A MILLION JERI. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR SWEET THOUGHTFULNESS.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm hitting the couch now for a power snooze. Have a crafty and relaxing day.

February Secret Sister Swap to Charleen

Wow, I can't believe I have so much to post practically everyday for the past week or so. I think this is my last Valentine's Day card.

I was Charleen's secret sister for this month. The theme was to make something with hearts. If you look closely, you'll see the hearts between "SWAK" and I also added a beaded stick pin that has a shiny red heart? Can you see it? I'm having a blast making a bunch of these pins. Almost as much fun as making cards. LOL

"Popcorn the Bear" stamp by Crafter's Companion was inked up with Copic markers. I wrote in "For You" on the tag. The S.W.A.K. stamp is by Studio G. Also, used Spellbinder dies, Distress Ink, DP by Bo Bunny, flowers by Wild Orchid, Prima, and Mulberry Bear, leaf punch by Martha Stewart and EK, pearls by Kaiser Craft, and the gold circle embellie (don't know what it's called) is from Hand-to-Hand Crafts store in Hilo.

Hope you all enjoy the long weekend doing what you love most.....crafting.

Thanks for stopping by. Cheers!

January Anything Goes Swap to Jo

Happy Thursday!!! Hope your week is whizzing by as we head into a LONG weekend. YAY!!!

Before February is over, I want to share this cheery and flowery card I made for my January card swap partner, Jo over in England. Oh dear, I think the postal service must be short-handed as it too 5 weeks to get to her. I'm just happy she received it.

When I saw the flower pot Spellbinder dies at Island Scrapbooking (IS), I knew I had to add it to my collection. It comes in various sizes....so cool yah? And me being a lover of dots, couldn't resist the DP by Reminisce, also from IS. Ohh, and rummaged thru my DPs and found a coordinating stripe DP by Stampin' Up. To add focus on the "smiley flowers" I added the circle and large scallop die cuts by Spellbinder.

Other supplies: Flower punch by Marvy, Distress Ink, leaf punch by Martha Stewart, smile stickers (sorry, I tossed the label), bee brad by Eyelit Outlet, ribbon by Offray, and black Dew Drops (RAK).

If you're interested in joining he swap, click here for the deets on Shirl's blog.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy and crafy evening.

A Sweet Award from Leanne and Sweet

Woo-hoo, I received a double dose of sweetness that my blog got a Liebster Blog Award from two amazing friends I met in blogland. You made my day Leanne and Sweet.
Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:
A short introduction about Liebster Blog Award: 'Liebster' is German for 'dearest'. The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers
1) Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog
2) Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3) Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4) Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserves to be noticed.
5) Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog

A million thanks to my blog friends Leanne from Finding my Groove and Sweet from Sweetland Paper Treats. They are two AMAZING, I mean REEEEAAALLLY AMAZING and SO CREATIVE. Hugs to you both.

It wasn't easy but here are my 5 picks for this award.

1) Colleen 4hawaiianmonkeys.blogspot.com
2) Tammi tropicaldreams-17.blogspot.com
3) Linda lifeofagirliegirl.blogspot.com
4) Rachel loveandsushi.blogspot.com
5) Jo mycraftingcorner-jo.blogspot.com

Hop over to their blogs and see their awesome creations. You'll be inspired.

Thanks again Leanne and Sweet. I really appreciate it.

Big Hugs,
Karen

February Secret Sister Swap from Amy

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY PEEPS!!! Hope your day is a SWEET one. Hubby surprised me with the Girl's Day Stamp set by Dandelion Designs and a gift card. Woo-hoo.

Today, I so excited to share this super sweet card I received from Amy Young. She was my secret sister in Kris' Secret Sister Swap. Oh, as soon as I picked up my mail from the post office and saw her name on the envelope, I was thrilled to the max. She's a Stamping Queen for sure. Check out this adorable card she made. I love all the sparkle too. Don't ya think the image is cute?
Here's a close-up.

And some sweet embellies...... pretty crocheted flowers, hearts, and ribbon.

THANKS A MILLION AMY. I LOVE 'EM ALL!!!! I'm having so much fun doing swaps. Click here if you'd like to check out the deets on Kris' blog.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. XOXO

"XOXO" from Keitaro

Did everyone survive Monday? Hey, long weekend coming up. YAY!!!

Here's Keitaro by Sister Stamps sending you hugs, kisses, and some love. I inked this cutie up with Copics and wrote in "xoxo's" in the string of hearts he's holding. The washi paper is another from Japan. When you don't have a stamp for the words you want it's great to print them off the computer as I did with "I love you."

Quickie post today as I have 2 huge loads of laundry waiting to be folded or ironed. Ugh. I'd rather be crafting. LOL
Other supplies: Circle, scallop, and heart dies by Spellbinder, corner accent by Sizzix, Distress Ink, Dew Drops, Ribbon (no name), and button (RAK).

Thanks for visiting.....I really appreciate it. Have a great day / evening and HAPPY CRAFTING.

Favors for Annual Installation Dinner

Happy Sunday Peeps! Hope you're all having a fab weekend and getting in a LOT of crafting time.

Yesterday was a great day as I went to the doc to get my cholesterol blood test result and was thrilled and surprised that it's down to 134. Woo-hoo, that's great news especially since it was up to about 249 a few years ago. Although I'm taking a low-dose med., I guess it also helps to try an eat healthy....no chicken skin, no egg yolks, read the nutrition labels, etc. My hubby thinks eating scrambled egg whites is "gross." LOL, ha-ha-ha. I still cheat a little once in a while though. :-)

The FCE (Family and Community Education) club that I recently left was so sweet and invited me to their annual Installation Dinner at Nihon Restaurant which was last night. Everyone brought a $10.00 grab bag and some prizes for some FUN games. And also shared some goodies / favors with each other.

There's a lot of pix to share from last night (plus I have a couple of Valentine's Day cards) so I decided to post them throughout the week. Otherwise, this post would be too L-O-N-G. Today, I'll share the favor I made using the Sizzix "Box Shaker" die.

Here are the leaves and flowers punched out. The leaf punch is by Punch Bunch and I distressed the edges of each leaf a bit. Can you see that???? The red flowers are from a Marvy punch and the yellow ones by EK. Hey, I thought I sold that punch for the yellow flowers so I bought another only to find my original punch hiding in the corner of my organizer. Oh well, now I have a back-up. LOL

I inked up Fairy Princess by TGF with Copics and gave their wings some sparkle with Stickles.

And here they are ready to affix to the box. If you enlarge the photo, you may be able to see that I lifted the petals of the yellow flowers to give it dimension. I also ran carpet thread in the button holes using carpet thread. These itty bitty buttons were purchased at Walmart.

This is the container of YUMMY individually-wrapped cookies from Costco.

Since 4 cookies in the individual plastic wrap wouldn't fit into the box, I removed them and put them in the 3" x 3" plastic "Ziploc" type bag and thank goodness it fit perfectly. You can't see it but there is a clear plastic taped to the back of the window opening which I cut using my Spellbinder die. Ohhh, I thought it was gonna crack my Hot Shot cutting pad as it's a bit thick. Eeee yikes. The Clear Plastic Sheets is by Paper Accents.

And WALA, here are the finished favors with the sheer-dotted ribbon (no brand name) to keep the flap closed. WHEW!!! When I first started making these, I didn't realize how much time it would take. Talk about craft-burnout...hee-hee, but I was HAPPY with the results.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and thank you for popping in for a visit. Hugs!!!

Have a Purr-fect Day

Hey Peeps. Have you heard??? Kim posted a sketch on her blog so we can all enter our cards and play along. She may even throw in a prize or two. Woo-hoo. The deadline is 2/29 so ink up your images and join in the fun. Click here for the deets on her blog. A new sketch will be posted on the first of each month. Thanks Kim!!!!

Here's my entry that I eagerly made tonight. How fun!!!

Supplies: Image by Penny Black, DP by Dilly Dally, Doodlebug, and Bo Bunny, Spellbinder dies, Copic markers, punch by EK, "Adorable" rub-on by American Crafts, Button embellies by Sassafras, and Dew Drops.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy crafty day/evening.

"Valentine's Send a Hug" Card Drive

Helloooooo Peeps. Happy Monday! I'm sharing a card I made over the weekend to send to Jen as she and her ministry have a handmade card drive to brighten the day of "locked up youths" for Valentine's Day. Hop over to her blog here for the deets and join in on this great cause.

This image is by Penny Black, one of my fave stamps. I just love this fuzzy cat. And I couldn't resist using the leave die cuts and flower I recently received from Dora. She's so sweet.

Other supplies: DP by Making Memories, "With Love" stamp by Stampin' Up, Copics, Spellbinderdies, Distress Ink, Heart punch by Martha Stewart, ribbon (no name), heart sticker by Sticko, and Ric Rak.

Thanks for visiting and have a relaxing and crafty day / evening.

Baby Shower Invitations

Hello Peeps! Hope you're enjoying the weekend. Is anyone watching the Super Bowl today? Just 30 minutes from kickoff so I'll try to get this posted quick then get the grinds out before our son and his girlfriend arrive to for big game. He gets off work in a couple of minutes and I bet he's been looking at his wristwatch a million times throughout his shift. LOL.

Just want to share the inspiration I experienced when I attended our cousin's wife's funeral yesterday. In January 1999, at the age of 38, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and fought with an unbelievable positive outlook on life and tremendous perseverance through adversity. She did not allow cancer to run her life and touched the lives of many, including those facing the same challenges as she. We all face various challenges throughout our lives and I was so touched by her strength and courage. A scholarship was also set up in her name. What a wonderful tribute to her. So please get your mammogram ladies and take care of yourselves.

On with the invitations. Using my Sizzix "Card, A2 flap" die, I made some invitations for a baby shower. Keeping it "neutral" since it wasn't definite if the mother-to-be would have a girl or boy, I used a few different CS from my K & Company stack. The bear image is an oldie but goodie from my stash which I thought was perfect in size and just the fact the the bear was holding an umbrella fits the baby "shower" event.

Here's a yellow one with green dots....

...and one with multi-colored dots....

....and stripes...

...and larger dots....

Here's a peek inside....

and here's all 12 of them.

Other supplies: Spellbinder dies, Copic Markers, Distress Ink, and punch by EK.

Oh, it's almost time for kick off. I better get out the grinds. Which team are you football fans cheering for? We have Giant fans in our household.

Have a happy Super Bowl Sunday and thanks for popping in for a visit.

January Anything Goes Swap from Jo

Happy Saturday Peeps. Hope you all have fun and a lot of crafting time.

Here's another happy mail I received. This one is from Jo who was my January Card Swap partner. Isn't this pretty and cheerful? I love the scalloped edges 2-tone color combo. Thanks Jo.

I'll post the card I made for her after she receives it. I'm just crossing my fingers that it didn't get lost in the mail as I sent it the first week in January. I guess going to England takes a while.

Jo also sent me some cool die cuts and embellies. Perfect for Valentine's Day. In fact, I already used one of the buttons. Check out Jo's awesome blog here for some inspiration.

If you'd like to join in this fun swap, click here for the deets on Shirl's blog. Thanks for coordinating Shirl.

Thanks for stopping by and have a sunshiny weekend.

Happy Mail from Dora

Hi there Peeps. Hope your week is going well.

I want to share another happy mail I received the other day. This is from Dora. Have you seen her blog? OMG, she is amazingly talented. I really admire her creativity and asked her about some leaves she used on one of her posts (not the one below) as I haven't seen them here in Hawaii. She so kindly cut some for me from her die PLUS added some extras from her other dies. I was so thrilled when I received them in the mail. It sure put a BIG smile on my face. Woo-hoo.

Below is the sweet card she enclosed with the die cuts. Isn't it precious?

Here's a pix of the die cuts. Those in the foreground are the ones I asked her about. I think they're ALL so awesome.

Check out Dora's blog here and you will surely BE INSPIRED!!! THANKS A MILLION DORA.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a crafty day / evening. Toodle-loo.