Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 7: Christmas Goodies!

I'm baaaack!  I've been in a major funk since coming back from the east coast.  Not quite sure what to call it....post vacation blues...post Christmas blues?!  Maybe a little bit of both.  It was so hard for me to get back on Hawaii time after being on vacation for 2 weeks on east coast time, but nonetheless it's time for another edition of Picking Up the Pieces!

I got some pretty sweet stamps and dies for Christmas and will be playing along with a couple of challenges. The first is for the December Avery Elle Challenge using this sketch

Here is my card using the Thanks A Bunch set....

Avery Elle Thanks A Bunch, Avery Elle Laurels. Hero Arts Shadow Inks in Green Hills and Butter Bar and Orange Soda, Memento Inks in Bamboo Leaves, Rich Cocoa and Peanut Brittle, Echo Park Every Day Eclectic Paper Pad, Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Mat Dies, Lawn Trimmings

It took me a couple of tries to get the spacing and ink color combinations right, but totally fun because the possibilities were endless in building a fab bouquet!  The colors were inspired by the last Pinspired Challenge seen below...

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and looking forward to the New Year!  I know I am!!!

Mahalo for stopping by!!!

Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 6 No Scrap Left Behind!

Hello gang!  Today I want to share a little project I made for all my coworkers that cost me less than $4/ea.  I kept seeing these great Starbucks cups that were reusable and knew I had to do something with them!

Most of my coworkers are coffee drinkers and our boss recently purchased a Keurig Machine for our department. I filled each cup with 3 Keurig coffee pods perfect to get a good start to their day!  I personalized them using Lawn Fawn's Cole's ABCs die that cut felt like butta!  Added a few embellishments from my stash and voila!  Love that it's personalized and used up scraps of felt.  I think they'll like it!

Hope this inspires you to make somethin' crafty for your friends and family!  Homemade gifts are the best in my book.  Mahalo for stopping by!!!

Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 5: Making Tags

So I was on a mission to use up all my scrap pieces of holiday pattern paper (you may recognize seeing them in this post) and realized I had enough to make a stash of tags! Tags are perfect to jazz up that special gift, turn into a quick card or just to have on hand for when you need them quickly.

Recognize the paper from the treat bags?  I used Lawn Fawn's Tag You're It Dies to quickly put these together.  I also had some scrap glitter paper that I couldn't bare to throw away, they made perfect reinforcers for a little touch of bling!

 Above is my favorite tag using an origami tree cut from a half circle and folded to create the layers...super fun!

 

Lastly are these sets that allowed the paper to speak for themselves AKA my laziness kickin' in.  But honestly I did like the simplicity of it for those none fru fru peeps in our lives!

All right, that's it for me!  Hope everyone is surviving, crossing off things from the to do list and getting ready for Christmas.  MAHALO for stopping by!

 

Kitty Bee Designs Mid Inspiration for Christmas Challenge

Happy Aloha Friday!  Welcome back for my mid inspiration post to get your creative juices flowing with Kitty Bee Designs.  How are your Christmas cards coming along?  Since I'm on my east coast trip I had to quickly finish them up before leaving...talk about a rush!

Here is my sneak peek for the week...

This has got to be my most favorite card of the year! I hope you'll go check out the full card at Kitty Bee Designs and while you're there, check out the rest of our design teams creations.  I guarantee it'll make you smile!

And that's a wrap!  Kitty Bee Designs Team will be going on holiday for a bit, but we'll be back in the New Year with a lot more adorable images so stay tuned!  Meanwhile feel free to browse around the Kitty Bee Designs Etsy Shop for clear and digi images.  Perfect to give as a gift and/or keep for yourself!

Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 4...Treat bags for Christmas

Aloha everyone! I'm back again with another paper pieced project this time as a treat bag.  My friend Kel (Scraps and Photograffs) introduced me to the Bo Bunny Elf Magic Collection and I fell in love with the tone on tone papers!  I'm such a sucker for them and got a whole bunch to make these fun treat bags for the kids to pass out to their classmates.

Juju loves blue and Noah loves Red so they made perfect treat bags to hold the Christmas day essentials...hot cocoa, butter mints and a chocolate covered marshmallow!

My fabulous E-Clips cut out the bags and I made some quick tags with a scallop circle.

We added the ribbon for handles or if they wanted to hang on their Christmas tree.  I say "we" because my mom ended up helping since I had to make a total of 37 bags!

I've been crafting like a mad woman all weekend long trying to get projects complete for the kids' classmates, teachers, coworkers and family coming in to town tomorrow!!  Stay tuned for more blog posts on these.  I'll be leaving for the east coast on Tuesday for my brother in law's Doctoral Commencement, but rest assured I have a fabulous line up of scheduled posts and will be blog hopping regularly. 

Anyone have any travel plans for the holidays?  Praying for mild winter weather while everyone is traveling.  Have a happy Monday and MAHALO for stopping by.

Aloha Friday Kitty Bee Design Challenge #14

Happy Aloha Friday!  I can't believe this is our last challenge for the year!  It's been an amazing ride from summer til now and hope you've been inspired to create somethin' cute.  Here's my little sneak peek for this week's Christmas challenge...

I promise it's darling and can hold gift cards or money.  I'd love it if you hopped over to Kitty Bee Designs Blog to check out the complete project and see the rest of the design teams creations!


Here are a few of my Kitty Bee Design faves from this past year...

The bears are just adorable! I had to choose a paper pieced one as well....

 

And here's one hanging out...LOVE it!!

There are soooo many more adorable images and you can check them out at Kitty Bee Design Etsy Shop where you'll find over 80 more images in digis and clear cling stamps.

Mahalo for stopping by and have a FABULOUS weekend!

Lawn Fawn Love and a tiny detail tip

Happy Wednesday!  We are almost to the weekend...YAY!  As much as I want the weekend to come, the time is flying by super fast and the list of things to do grows longer each day!  Isn't that always the case around the holidays?! 

I have another Lawn Fawn card that I wanted to share using their stitched leaves die...

Can you see the little negative heart shape?  That was totally random when I started gluing the leaves...thought it was pretty cool!  I almost covered it up, then thought to leave it as a little special somethin'.  The idea was to make a heart shaped pile of leaves.

The leaves are also inked up to define that outer heart shape using Memento Luxe Ink in Rhubarb Stalk. 

I LOVE Lawn Fawn's alpha sets because there's a font for any occasion and so easy to use as they all lineup!  Sally's ABCs is my favorite font from Lawn Fawn and I added some Lawn Ornaments for bit o' bling.  Love that the sequins are mixed and in varying sizes, but you can also alter them....
**Here comes the tiny tip**
See that little light blue sequin at the top left?  It was actually the size of the bottom right light blue sequin, but because I thought it too big, I took my punch and cut it down to size!  I did warn ya it was a tiny tip...hehehe.

All righty...gotta go cross things off my list!  Have a great day and mahalo for stopping by!!

Getting Yeti for the New Year!

 Interested in having your project featured in the next Lawn Fawn CHA catalog...check this out!

Ok so I'm not really getting ready for the New Year, but this card is!

Lawn Fawn Cole's ABCs, Lawn  Fawn Yeti Set Go, Lawn Fawn Happy 4th, Lawn Fawn Hats Off to You, Lawn Fawn Sweet Christmas, Lawn Fawn Circle Stackables, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Copic markers, DCWV Glitzy Glitter Matstack, Wink of Stella in Silver

I used Lawn Fawn's Cole's ABCs to create the word strips on glitter paper and then stamped out the yeti using a mask for the top hat.  The rocket is from the Happy 4th set and his little bow tie is from Sweet Christmas.  I think he's all jazzed up and ready for a fun night...lol

Mahalo for stopping by and have a great day!

Picking Up the Pieces Monday Vol. 3

Wow...Monday already!?  Hope everyone has recovered from the turkey/food coma and ready to start the week.  As Christmas quickly approaches I've been trying to get a bunch of projects done.  Today I have a cute little paper pieced tag using Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest tree stamp and die...

The tree stamp was inked up 3 times on Lawn Fawn Fa La La pattern paper and then adhered with foam tape for a more layered look.  The base of the tag was die cut with a top fold to create a card-like tag to write a message on the inside.

Added some multicolored sequins and Lawn Fawn Peppermint Lawn Trimmings and there ya have it!

This will be entered in Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes! and Lawnscaping Challenge: Tags

Mahalo for stopping by!

Last Minute...

Ran short on some Thanksgiving cards so I quickly put together this card...

I love that sketches can make a card come together especially when in a hurry!  Today's card is using Seize the Sketch shown here...

Here's the full card...

I was trying to capture those glittery letters from the DCWV Glitzy Glitter Matstack...sorry about the lop-sided look, but I promise it's pretty straight in person...hehehe.  All the stamps and dies are from Avery Elle and will also enter for the November challenge too!

Mahalo for stopping by for this super last minute card!

Picking Up the Pieces Monday Vol. 2

Happy Monday...I hope!  Welcome back to another edition of paper piecing.  One of the reasons I love to paper piece is because I'm not the best at coloring.  I love Copic markers and LOVE how you can create so much depth and shading, but unfortunately there are no classes here in Hawaii to learn the awesome art of Copic coloring. Everything is paper pieced except for her skin...I attempted the Copic coloring.

On to my paper pieced card with another fun technique...using double stick tape to create glitter strips! Chari made some beautiful Christmas cards with this technique and I had to try it out.

Dandelion Designs CL-17 Aloha Set, Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling Die, Memetno Luxe Love Letter Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Copics, Lawn Trimmings twine, Distress Glitter in Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers and Seedless Preserves

I hope you enjoyed today's paper pieced card and fun glitter technique...until next time...MAHALO for stopping by!

His and Her Christmas

Sunday already?!  It was so nice to get some mom time in and even better to have some ideas pop up in my head while playing at the playground and going for some pumpkin and cinnamon frozen yogurt after.  I had to get some homework done for the OCC:Holiday Cards Workshop and came up with this...

For Him...

Kept with muted colors, but couldn't help myself with the silver embossing on the Cottage Cutz die.  I first did a single tree die cut, but it was so boring to me I decided to make it more like a silhouette for the silver tree.  It was hubby approved.

For Her...

I took the same layout/design and used a more festive approach with the red background pattern paper from Lawn Fawn Fa La La paper pad and added rhinestones and pearls.

I'll be honest I'm not a fan of intricate dies because of the patience you need to take all the bits and pieces out, but this tree really is worth it.  There was also a tip to get the metal shim to help cut intricate dies better.  I'm on the fence with this because if I made that purchase I probably would be buying more dies!

Hope you'll visit again for tomorrow's post to see the next edition of "Picking Up the Pieces Monday."  Hint...it's got some Hawaiian flair!

I Believe in Embossing

YES!  It's Friday...and the best part is I'm not oncall!  This weekend I plan to spend as much time with my kiddos as possible.  They are growing too quickly for my liking.  My favorite moments are listening to them chat in the backseat about Christmas.  They are getting excited and its very contagious.  My 7 year old is on the fence about Santa, telling her brother that she believes in Santa, but thinks that moms and dads have a lot more to do with presents then Santa does.  Oh if I could just stop time and keep them believing forever!

On to my card following this week's CAS(E) this Sketch

Fresh Squeezed Stamps On Trend, Fresh Squeezed Stamps Words to Live By, Versamark, Judi Kins Diamond White embossing powder, clear embosing powder, Avery Elle Winter Blend sequins, Quickutz Santa's Sleigh

I have had that Santa's Sleigh die for years and absolutely love it!  Every year I bring it out and add him to just about every  holiday creation I can.  I thought it perfect for the sketch...

I tried to capture the bling of the sentiment...

Do you guys have any holiday item (die, embellishment, stamp, etc.) that has to be used each year during the holidays?  I'd love to hear about it! 

Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 1 and Craft Room Makeover!

Aloha gang!  Welcome to the first edition of Picking Up the Pieces Monday in which I will be sharing every Monday my most favorite technique of paper piecing.  I've been enjoying The Holiday Card Workshop from Online Card Class and wanted to share some things I've learned.  My card today is using pattern paper from Doodlebug Design's North Pole 6x6 paper pad.  I LOVE 6x6 pads because they are perfectly scaled patterns for card making.

Avery Elle Holiday Fill in the Blank w/ dies, Avery Elle Sequins, Doodlebug Design Pattern Paper North Pole, American Crafts Rouge CS, Timeless Twine Christmas Twist, Memento Ink in Cottage Ivy

 

The technique to use on the 2nd day of class was die cut inlays which allows your card to have a pretty smooth surface.  For my tree I wanted a little dimension and used some Avery Elle Evergreen Blend sequins and Kraft Blend for the stump.  I added some Timeless Twine in Christmas Twist to continue with my traditional color card and there ya go...a fun and festive card!

Challenges I would like to enter this card in...
Avery Elle I Love You Challenge
Curtain Call: CAS-ual Christmas
CAS-ual Fridays: CFC 120

 

So on to my craft room makeover.  Here is the before (I dreaded showing this!)...

In my defense I know where everything is! 
Here is where my hubby works miracles...

Wow right?!  I recently got happy mail for my first ever publication in Paper Crafts Magazine that will debut in March!  As a surprise gift, my hubby said it was time for me to get organized and he purchased a few things from Stamp-n-Storage.  I HIGHLY recommend their products as they are reasonably priced, shipped quickly all the way here, and truly make a difference in organizing everything!

The finished room...

It took me a few days to adjust where everything was but I absolutely LOVE it.  Mahalo hubby!!!  Everything has a place, but I'll confess my desk needs a little tidying up...again.  Recently the hubby added this fun decor using some inexpensive frames and adding his own sheet metal from the hardware store that were only $1!

I can finally have guests in my craft room...lol!  If anyone is ever on Oahu I would love to meet up and craft together!

Mahalo for stopping by and letting me share...have a great day and week!

Using Distress Glitter...again!

Aloha friends!  I'm quickly hopping in to share this card that I'm wanting to enter into a couple of challenges.  Thanks so much for your kind words from my other post.  I've overcome the cold and crossing my fingers the kids continue to stay in good health.  It always seems so hard to keep them from getting colds this time of year!

So here's the card...

Y'all know how much I love my distress glitter, so here I went at it again using a background stamp from Hero Arts.  I got these cute wooden "book labels" (I think that's what they were called) bought in the bargain bin at Archiver's and used that to frame my sentiment. 

The sketch I followed from CASE(E) this Sketch

and since the Simon Says Challenge for Wednesday was Thanks/Thankgiving I'll be entering that as well.

All right back to work I go since I'm on call.  Mahalo for stopping by!

Kitty Bee Designs Mid Inspiration for Challenge #12

Happy Aloha Friday!  You've got one more week to load up any project with the theme of fall colors to Kitty Bee Designs.  Here's my sneak peek...

A little hint...I was playing around with my new A2 flip-it card dies which pair up perfectly for Kitty Bee stamps!  Thanks so much for stopping by and for more inpiration check out the blog at Kitty Bee Designs!  Mahalo for taking the time to stop by and have an AWESOME weekend!

The Sentiment

What a whirlwind of events this past 3 day weekend!  I had a successful craft fair despite the rain and thank all my family, friends and sweet strangers that still shopped through the weather.  Unfortunately I caught a cold and was completely out on Sunday and most of Monday, but pulling through since it's a short work week.

Anyway, I quickly wanted to enter this card for the next Lawnscaping Challenge making the sentiment the main focus of my card...

I was going for the crazy Christmas sweater look...hehehe.  Took a bunch of Lawn Fawn Fa La La pattern paper and went to town!  Quick and fun.  Also wanted to introduce the latest idea brought to you by the hubby.  He gave me this awesome idea to do a series every Monday called "Picking Up the Pieces Monday."  I thought it was hilarious but it will incorporate my most favorite thing...paper piecing!  So stay tuned every Monday for a card or project using paper piecing.

Mahalo for stopping by and have a great week ahead!

Moxie Fab Mahalo to Cath Edvalson

Aloha and welcome to this fabulous gathering of crafters that adore and admire the Moxie Fab Cath Edvalson!  This blog hop is epic, and I hope Cath FEELS the love we send from whatever part of the world we live in!

If you're going in order you should have arrived from Alyssa Scritchfield's blog.

Where to even begin?  I had been stalking the Moxie Fab posts for about a year and finally got the courage to enter one of the Tuesday Triggers to celebrate Cath's mom's birthday.  Before then I was completely intimidated by the entries.  When I heard her mom was vacationing in Hawaii, I knew I had to make a Hawaiian card for her mom!  Do you guys remember that?  If interested you could check out my card HERE.

I have never had the honor of meeting her in person, but with her daily posts of inspiration and weekly challenges in the Moxie Fab World over at Paper Crafts Connection Blog I feel like she's just a phone call away.  Her challenges pushed my creative side to new heights and her keen eye for spotting trends is a talent no one will ever come close to.

So how do you make the perfect thank you card for the perfect blog hop?!?  Well I put a lot of pressure on myself and then it just came down to going simple.  Who wouldn't smile at a rainbow and butterfly?!

I cannot thank Cath enough for her many years of inspirational bliss.  I'm surely going to miss it and can't wait to see and hear about her future endeavors!

To continue on, check out the AMAZING list of well wishers...I'm #155 if you're going in order.  Just click on the links below and you'll see more creations just for our Moxie Fab Cath!  Mahalo for hopping by!!!

Kitty Bee Design Challenge #12

Happy Aloha Friday gang!  I'm back with another project using another adorable Kitty Bee Designs original.  This week's challenge is to use fall colors since the season is upon us.  Here's my sneak peek...

As always, to see the project in its entirety, I would love it if you would hop on over to Kitty Bee Designs Blog and check out the rest of the design team's awesome projects!  It's guaranteed to make you smile on this fabulous Aloha Friday.

Tomorrow is the Aiea Elementary Craft Fair so if you're on Oahu, this project will actually be sold their!

Mahalo for stopping by!

P.S.-If you're ever wondering how to do any of my Kitty Bee Designs projects or what products I use for them, you can look them up HERE.  I have a tab at the top of my blog named "Fun w/ Kitty Bee" that is frequently updated with my latest project.  Hope you'll check it out!

Getting ready and more minions!

Aloha!  I wanted to share a few things I have been working on the past few weeks.  I've always wanted to do a craft fair and last year finally got the courage to try it out.  It was so much fun, and I had such positive feedback, that I decided to do it again this year.  So I've been working furiously trying to make inventory!  For anyone on Oahu (or anyone that wants to fly out here ;-) I will be at Aiea Elementary on November 9th from 9am-2pm.  Hope to see you there!

I've been loving the Minion trend and saw TONS of them during Halloween so it inspired me to do a little post-it note holder...

They're such cuties that I made a bunch...

in varying faces...

I finally had a project to use up all those yellow metallic papers I had in my stash and of course googly eyes!

A hot seller for me was the gift card holders...

They're simple mini envelopes (the size of a gift card), held together with a belly band.  Perfect to dress up any GC!  Of course I had to use my Kitty Bee Designs stamps!!

And lastly these fun magnets using glass tiles...

I have tons more including cards and notepads...just wanted to share some highlights.  I've been dying to enter all the fun challenges out there, but am focusing on this craft fair first.  It definitely helps support this very addicting hobby!  Mahalo for stopping by!!!