happy new year!

My Flickr friend Deirdre made a cute card using some free digis from Torico's Digital Gallery. Torico generously shares her fun, whimsical images and I snagged a bunch of them. Thank you, Torico!

Here's an image called Gosuloli (Does it not sound like "Go Slowly"?) Girl. She's a little goth cutie and she was a lot of fun to color. I think she's stashing that little snowman and welcoming in the New Year.

The card base is a scrap piece stamped with Hero Arts' Classic Fabric Design. I colored her with Copics, and used Cosmo Cricket alpha stickers to form the sentiment. The seam binding was dyed with Black Soot distress ink, and I dyed the paper rose with some Copic (R83 & R85) ink refills. Although the photo doesn't show it, I applied some Aqua Lip clear glaze to the little skull, snowman, and her eyes for a bit of shine.

Thanks to all of you who visited my blog this year, and left such wonderful comments, too. Here's wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year!


Stamps: Torico digital image, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Hero Arts shadow ink, Black Soot distress ink
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Cosmo Cricket alpha stickers, hand dyed seam binding, 
Sakura Aqua Lip clear pen, paper rose, pearls

My Top 10 2010 Cards Blog Hop

While visiting Tiddly Inks, Christy Croll mentioned a blog hop sponsored by Mrs. Weyremaster (Suzi) to choose and share 10 of your favorite cards that you created in 2010. It sounded like fun, to go through your past blog posts and revisit some older cards again. 

Here are my top 9: (Click to view larger size)

Top row (L to R): Hero Arts, Tiddly Inks, Simply Betty

Second row: Digistampcharacters, Greeting Farm, Stampin Up

Bottom row: Greeting Farm, Mo's Digital, Greeting Farm

My 10th wasn't made by me, but by the fabulous Amy Young--she won Farm Fresh Friday! I received this card for Christmas, and got to see it in person. It's truly awesome...Thank you, Amy!

You have until Wednesday, December 29th (7pm GMT) to link your blog post thru Inlinkz. Suzi is generously offering some prizes, too. Get all the details here, and hope to see your Top 10 faves, too!

Post Christmas 2010

Hello, and Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great Christmas and that Santa brought you all that you wished for.

I'd like to share a couple of gifts that I received--one cute, and one awesome! First the cute from my daughter from Urban Outfitters:

We had bunnies for 11 years and I miss them terribly, so naturally I squealed when I first saw these slippers. They're cozy and warm and give me a little height, too. ♥

My next share is "most awesome gift" from my sweet hubby! He presented me with a nicely wrapped box and I knew it wasn't jewelry because I'm not a glitz and bling kind of gal. When I opened it, here's what was inside:

Yep, my hubby bought me more workout sessions with my personal trainer, Allie!! I'm halfway to my weight loss goal (-26 pounds so far!!) and the 32 sessions should stretch out through March.

And thanks for your condolences to Frosty. He is definitely gone. The good news is, I'm probably going to resurrect him by changing the music button, or make a whole new Frosty. He'll make an appearance next Christmas....

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share...Hope you're having a great week!

Poor Frosty...

Well, I guess I spoke too soon. A few nights ago, it became apparent that Frosty's days were numbered. After 22 years of being perched on our tree and having his tummy pressed, he'll soon be just a hanging ornament.

I (sniff!) videotaped his last day of glory to share with you.

You might be able to hear me "shush" my hubby after he suggests that I perform surgery on Frosty and remove the music button or change his battery.

R.I.P. Frosty! You served us well and we won't be pressing on your belly anymore.  From now on we hope you'll enjoy just hangin' around at Christmas...

And on that note, I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Thanks so much for always stopping by and for your sweet comments, too. 

MELE KALIKIMAKA!

Cheeky Cool Christmas

Just a quick share of a card that I made for Farm Fresh Friday at The Greeting Farm. I had several Cheeky gals colored--she's my favorite!--so this card came together rather quickly. On the Nestabilities Labels One shape, I stamped Hero Arts' Music Background and ink distressed with Broken China distress ink.

I used lots of Diamond Stickles on her outfit and some pearly snowflakes for the "Let It Snow" challenge theme. The "cool" sentiment is from another set from the Greeting Farm.

Note: This card was picked as a "Wednesday Wow" at Club Anya and Friends and I won a free digi of my choice! I'll share who won Farm Fresh Friday in an upcoming post.

Thanks for visiting today! Hope you're having a great week...

Stamps: The Greeting Farm, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Tim Holtz distress ink
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Diamond Stickles, ribbon, snowflake buttons

A card of Hope

Deborah Nolan coordinated a secret card drive for a Hero Arts Flickr friend who was battling a terrible illness. I wrote up this post over a year ago. It was published, and some of you commented, but I "unpublished" it because it was still a secret. And now, a year later, Deborah said it was time for the reveal.  So here it is, again...

Just wanted to share a card that I made for a Flickr friend who is going through a difficult time right now. Deborah is hosting a secret card drive that drew an amazing turnout, which just goes to show that stampers have the biggest hearts.

I am loving Hero Arts' new Friend Definition cling stamp. It's huge and covers a lot of card in one stamping, and it also stamps so crisp and clear.

I sponged Shabby Shutters on cream cardstock and stamped the definition in brown. Tore the edges with a metal edge ruler and finished up with some flowers that were colored and cut out, along with some leaves from my new favorite Sizzlits leaf die.

Here's hoping that our secret friend knows that she has our love and support and that there will be brighter days ahead.                                    --November 2009

* * *

Ruth, we're all so happy for your progress and the battle you've won so far. I hope that all the cards you received brought a little sunshine in your life and that you continue to be strong and always have hope. 

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Merry Christmas--Part 2

Happy Aloha Friday! Just wanted to share a few more Christmas cards using some "oldies but goodies" stamps that I brought out of hibernation.

After I bought Hero Arts' Classic Fabric Design stamp, I thought it looked so familiar.

There's a slight resemblance to Purple Onion Design's Vintage Damask background stamp--you think? I love them both.

I also dug up Hero Arts' Antique Flower Background and inked it up with the same colors, changed the ribbon and rose, and added some leaves.

And I did it again. Yep, sometimes it's good to give your old stamps some love...

Thanks, always, for visiting! Whatever you're doing, have a great weekend!

Stamps: Purple Onion Designs, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Gina K ivory
Ink: Hero Arts shadow ink, Tim Holtz Distress ink
Other: Nestabilities, paper roses, leaf punch, pearls, hand dyed seam binding

Naughty or nice?

Challenge #31 at Tiddly Inks is to create a card inspired by a Christmas song. This image reminded me of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" where Santa is "making a list, checking it twice; gonna find out who's naughty or nice".  

After coloring the image, I cut it out using the oval Nestabilities and tried to do the "out of the frame" method, to make her list appear as if it's coming out of the Nestie shape.





Alice made it look so simple here, and Rach's tutorial is so clear and concise. I just need a LOT more practice! I ended up printing out another list and pasting one over the other. The background was in my scraps bag--something that I stamped up last year!

* * *

And this note is for Tabitha, who won Tiffany Doodles' "Singing Birds" digi from my recent giveaway. Can you please email me so I can send you the digi? I couldn't find a link to your email address on your blog. Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon!

Stamps: Tiddly Inks, Greeting Farm sentiment, My Sentiments Exactly
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Gina K
Ink: Versafine, Papertrey Ink
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stickles, ribbon

Our Christmas tree--and a winner!

A few days ago, we decorated our Christmas tree!  Just sharing some of our favorite ornaments from Christmas past. Our most favorite? The snowman in the second row. 

Top row, L to R: sleeping mouse in a walnut shell, temari ball, teeny angel

Middle row, L to R: Hello Kitty, our tree, musical snowman

Bottom row, L to R: Christmas lamb, golf tee snowman, stuffed Hawaiian angel

He's a handmade snowman with a musical button inside him that plays "Frosty the Snowman". He's over 20 years old and still works! Everyone who passes by the tree squeezes his tummy just to hear the song.

* * *

And, according to Random.org, the winner of Tiffany Doodles' "Sunshine Birds" digital stamp is Tabitha! Congratulations, Tabitha! I will email you to confirm your email address. Hope you have fun with this digi!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Don't forget to stop by the Hero Arts blog today, for a blog hop and preview of their 2011 stamps....See you there!

Christmas tags

Today is the last day of Tiffany Doodles' blog hop! Have you hopped your way through all the design team's blogs? So many wonderful ideas and so many chances to win some of Tiffany's awesome digis!

I've made some Christmas tags using two of the new Christmas digi sets found here and here. And several team members are having a giveaway of these digis, too!

The great thing about digis is the ability to resize them to fit your project, whether it's a card or some tags. I printed these out on kraft cardstock and colored them in with Copics. The sentiments are by Hero Arts, but you could easily print everything out on your computer, or handwrite them.

Thanks, again, for joining our blog hop. Visit here if you want to leave a comment to win my digi giveaway--Singing Birds. I'll announce the random winner tomorrow, December 10th. Hope it's YOU!

A Hero Arts Blog Hop!

Are you ready for another blog hop? Join Hero Arts this Friday, December 10th for a fun-filled blog hop featuring ALL NEW stamps from the upcoming 2011 Hero Arts catalog!

More than 20 Hero Arts designers and friends will be previewing the new stamps and sharing tons of ideas with loads of inspiration! You'll be able to leave comments along the way for a chance to win some new catalog stamps--how exciting is that?

Join the fun on the Hero Arts blog on the morning of December 10th. See you there!

TD 07--Christmas Challenge & Blog Hop!

This month's challenge at Tiffany Doodles is all about Christmas! And Tiffany decided to celebrate the debut of our new design team with a blog hop.
A three day blog hop! That means in addition to entering the challenge,
you have three days to visit all the team blogs, leave a comment, and be eligible for lots of digi giveaways!

I hope you arrived here by way of Collette's blog. If not, start at the beginning at Tiffany Doodles. You won't want to miss a single blog because the top prize for three random commenters who complete the hop, will be
three digis of their choice!

And Tiffany is generously allowing all of her design team members to have a giveaway of one of her digis! During the hop, leave a comment on each blog and you'll be eligible to win that team member's digi through a random drawing. 

I chose Singing Birds as my giveaway. If you want a chance to win this adorable digi, simply leave me a comment and I'll choose a winner after the hop.

Here's my card using Singing Birds. I printed the image onto kraft cardstock, colored it
 with Copics and shaded with Prismacolor pencils. I used the deckle edge oval Nestabilities
to die cut the image, and sponged white ink around the edges. The background is Magical 
Background by Hero Arts, and the seam binding was dyed with distress inks.

Here's the blog hop order to help you along the way:

• Official Site     Tiffany Doodles
• Tiffany Richards     Tiffany's Garden
• Cammy Wall     Pink Room Therapy
• Collette Landwer     Heaven Sent For You
• Donna Mikasa   three umbrellas -- you are here!
• Jeannie DeGruccio     The Polka Cabana
• Jillian Foster     Inspired By
• Jodi Ann Lee     Inked Inspirations
• Karen Baker     The Bald Dragonfly
• Kim Schofield     Paperie Petals
• Lindsay Amrhein     Note to Self
• Lisa Summerhays     Lisa's Handmade Cards
• Pattie Goldman     The Pampered Paper Patch
• Peet Roeven     Scrap Album
• Shannon Neparko     Desert Design Studios
• Simone Naoum     Designs by Simone
• Sue McRae     Inky Fingers
• Willemien Katerberg     Styles in Paper
• Official Site    Tiffany Doodles

Tiffany has lots of freebies for you to try before you buy. And she's hoping to have her new store opened by Christmas! Also, if you need sponsorship for any challenges you may host, feel free to contact Tiffany.

Remember that you don't have to use a Tiffany Doodles image for any of her challenges--hopefully you'll win some! And here's a winter special for you: Buy 3 digis and get the 4th for free!

The Christmas challenge starts today, the 7th, and runs through December 31st. We hope you get tons of inspiration from our design team and play along with us!
Now hop on over to Jeannie's blog to see her inspiring work...

Stamps: Tiffany Doodles digital stamp, Hero Arts background
Cardstock: Paper Accent kraft
Ink: Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow, Distress inks
Other: Copics, Prismacolor pencils, Nestabilities, seam binding, pearls, corner rounder, pop dots

O Christmas tree!

Hi there! Did you get your Christmas tree yet? We did! Last year was our first Christmas without one and we resorted to an artificial tabletop model that my daughter's boyfriend gave her. Not the same...

Several containers of trees were rejected because of pest infestation, and sent back to the mainland so a lot of island folks were without trees. We had to put our presents around the tree and it just wasn't the same. No pine scent, too.

So this year, my hubby made sure to get a tree after the second shipment hit the stores. We'll probably decorate it tomorrow and start putting our gifts under it.

Here's a card made with a Pure Innocence digi from Heather Ellis' Digistampcharacters. She's such a cutie and got herself a little tree, too. 

I noticed that the girl is getting older and appears to be losing her baby fat. Doesn't she look a little slimmer?

Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm off to hunt for our box of ornaments! Thanks for stopping by...

Stamps: Digistampcharacters, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink: Versafine, Colorbox
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up
Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Liquid Pearls, pop dots, pearls

A New Month, A New Team!

Hello, and Happy Friday! With a heavy heart, I'd like to announce that many of Tiffany Doodles' original design team left to pursue new opportunities and I wish them well.

Cindy, Deirdre, Julie, Kathy, Ruby,Vanessa, and Virginia--it's been an honor being on the same team with you these past 6 months. Good luck with whatever comes your way and I'll still be following all of you!

Tiffany has since gathered 11 creative ladies who will officially begin their terms starting with this month's challenge. And they are: 

• Collette Landwer
• Jeannie DeGruccoio
• Jillian Foster
• Jodi Ann Lee
• Joy Taylor
• Karen Baker
• Lisa Summerhayes
• Pattie Goldman
• Simone Naoum
• Sue McRae
• Willemien Katerberg

Woo hoo! Recognize any names? Believe me, I was so excited each time Tiffany announced another name that was joining the team! I've stalked followed many of them and know a few from Hero Arts' Flickr group! How exciting is that? Click on their names to get a peek at their fabulous blogs!

To welcome our new team members, Tiffany decided to have our usual monthly challenge, combined with a 3-day blog hop! Stay tuned on December 7th for all the details and see the inspiring work of our new team!

And did you grab Tiffany's newest Thursday freebie here? I couldn't wait to color up this little tree! I printed the digi on kraft and colored it with Copics and shaded with Prismacolor pencils. 

I added some Stickles to the star and used my white paint pen to add some dots on the edges. 

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Have an awesome weekend...

Stamps: Tiffany Doodles Thursday freebie, Hero Arts background, Stampin Up alpha
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Memory Box
Ink: Stampin Up, Hero Arts chalk ink
Other: Copics, Prismacolor pencils, Nestabilities, Sharpie poster paint pen,
gemstones, Stickles, ribbon, twine
Finished size is 3"x4"

Hoppin' into the Holidays with The Greeting Farm!

Hi and welcome to The Greeting Farm's Holiday Hop! Start at The Greeting Farm and hop your way through all the blogs for lots of Christmas inspiration. Both blog hop participants and commenters will be eligible to win TGF's entire December release!

I've used Cheeky Christmas--she's my favorite gal in the Cheeky series--and made two cards to share. I colored up several images in different colors but stuck to the traditional red for this card and the "Santa Baby" theme.

I used Papertrey Ink's tree die and die cut two trees and placed them behind Cheeky. I moved the die a little higher so the second tree came out a little shorter than the first. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I'm thinkin' of giving this card to our mail carrier. Maybe it'll get his heart racing a little faster and he'll deliver our mail a little quicker. You think? ;)

For my second card and the "Let It Snow" theme, I colored Cheeky in vintage colors and added some glittery snowflake buttons. Hope this qualifies as "snow". I added a green ribbon that I dyed with some distress inks
for a bit of contrast.

Now return to The Greeting Farm for the master blog list and continue the hop. Thanks for hopping along with us today! Happy Holidays!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm, Hero Arts dots and sentiment, Inkadinkado Kid's Quotes

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill, Stampin Up

Patterned paper: Crate Paper, Bo Bunny

Ink: Memento, Versafine, Distress inks

Other: Copics, Papertrey Ink tree die, Tim Holtz embossing folder, seam binding, snowflake buttons, twine, pop dots

Thanksgiving on Kauai

Hello, and Happy Monday! Just wanted to share a few pics of our Thanksgiving trip to Kauai. My hubby was such a great tour guide and gave our daughter's boyfriend a grand tour of his hometown.

This is the famous tree tunnel as you're heading towards Koloa. It was totally destroyed in 1982 after Hurricane Iwa hit Kauai.

The tunnel provides shade during the day, but has a spooky feel at night because there are no lights along the way.

Only in Hawaii can you enjoy shaved ice cones in November

and watch body surfers brave some pretty strong waves.

The lobby of the Princeville Hotel. Check out that awesome chandelier!

Here's Hanalei valley which produces taro that's turned into poi--a Hawaiian staple. Doesn't it look like a lush patchwork quilt?

And lastly, here's a mountain formation of King Kong. See his profile facing to the left? He's not as well known as the Sleeping Giant, but we always look forward to seeing him.

It was a quick trip and visiting family is always fun...but there's no place like home.

Thanks for visiting today. Please stop by tomorrow for a Greeting Farm holiday hop!

Christmas Usher

Hello! Hope my US friends had a great Thanksgiving and that you all got some fabby Black Friday deals. I can't believe how fast November zipped by and Christmas will be here in less than a month!

Here's a card I made using one of Penny Black's new holiday images called Christmas Usher. Elizabeth Allan has a great video tutorial here and I pretty much cased her card, but substituted the cardstock color and the corner images.

These new Penny Black images are fun and quick to color. A swish of the Copics and her legs are colored. Another swish and her arms are done.

And here's a close up shot of her layered skirt. I added lots of Xmas Red Stickles for some holiday bling. The sentiment is an oldie from Wordsworth.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a fun weekend...

Stamps: Penny Black, Wordsworth, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Ink: Memento, Versafine, Versamark
Other: Copics, Stickles, gemstones

A thankful giveaway at Tiffany Doodles

To celebrate Thanksgiving, Tiffany is having a giveaway for three lucky random winners of a free digi of their choice. Visit Tiffany Doodles here and simply share what you're thankful for.

Tiffany will draw the names of three random winners on Wednesday, November 24th. And there's still time to enter the "Anything But a Card" challenge which ends on November 30th.

I am so thankful for my family, who supports my stamping addiction, and the many friends I've made in blogland over the years. Big hugs and thanks to those of you who follow or simply stop by my humble blog. ♥

* * *

We'll be island hopping to Kauai for Thanksgiving, and I'll be making the Pumpkin Mochi recipe that I shared here last year.

Whatever your plans are, I hope you have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving.  Eat ham!  :)

Home!

Hi there! Did y'all miss me? I missed you! We got in last night and I'm ick. Icker than when I left. My doctor did prescribe "lots of rest"  but, hello...we were in La$ Vega$ and were always on the go.

Here's some pics of our room at the Golden Nugget. I loved our room! It had a very Asian feel with the dark wood and glass. 

Check out the sinks. The first thing my hubby asked is, "Which one is yours?"

We saw The Association ("Windy", "Cherish", "Never My Love") at Suncoast Hotel and Casino,

went (window) shopping at City Center and Aria on the Strip,

Jean Philippe candy store 

and ate lots of deeelicious food.

All you can eat buffet at Makino's.







It was super cold--dipped into the 40's at night--and it's hard to stay away from cigarette smoke wherever we went so I seem to have developed a touch of bronchitis.

I did, however, manage to lose a couple more pounds! We ate "healthy", did a lot of walking, and I used the stairs whenever it was offered as a choice.

Ah, but I did miss stamping! And visiting blogs. Hope to play catch up while I do some recuperating...

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you later....

It's a Sweet Celebration!

Hello and welcome to Sweet November's Sweet Celebration Birthday blog hop! It's been one year since the characters who reside in Sweet November Land have come out to play and a few of them have gotten all decked out for a grand birthday party today!

All of the wonderful SN Gals and Guest Gals, as well as some of the ATS design team have come together to showcase these new cuties with a hop! And you won't want to miss a single blog because not only are the cards super cute and totally inspiring, but there are also four birthday candy kits hidden along the way! Think of them as fun birthday presents for you to win!

We are kicking things off at the ATS blog where you can find the complete list of everyone's blogs, and if you came here from Rinne's blog, then you're on your way!

For my card, I used Birthday Baby Girl on a cupcake shaped card. The template was designed by Tania of SRM stickers and can be found here on her blog.

I Cuttlebugged and lightly sanded a swirly pattern on the cake portion, and ran the bottom part through a paper crimper to look like the cupcake liner.

Here's the inside of the card, using sentiments from a birthday set that I won from Kim's blog.

All four of the new Sweet November stamps will be available in the ATS store on Monday, November 15th, which is the same day that the birthday candy winners will be announced on Amy's blog.

Now hop over to Serafiia's blog to see more birthday goodness. Thanks so much for joining our Sweet Celebration!

Stamps: Sweet November, Amy R
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up kraft
Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Other: Copics, Cuttlebug embossing folder, paper crimper, Signo white pen, sanding block, pop dots

Local Girlz Rock!

A lot of my blogging friendships were formed years ago from the Hero Arts Flickr group, and back then, I never thought that I'd be starting and keeping up with a BLOG. It was a Hero Arts blog hop that started it all and it's been a fun ride ever since.

I've also met a lot of local girls in blogland and I'd like to share some cards and goodies that I've received from them.

Here's a card from Denise, one of the first local girls that I met. She was also the first stamper to introduce me to Dew Drops. 

We live on opposite sides of the island, and she's invited me to several stamping get togethers. Teri, too! I'm always flattered but I feel so OLD, compared to these talented gals. They could be my daughters!

Next are some goodies from Joy. She is quite the box maker and cardmaker. A while back, she was my blog giveaway winner and thanked me by sending me this. Check out the little Ketto card!

And for my birthday, I received this adorable box filled with crafting goodies. Totally unexpected, and so very sweet!

I also got to meet Joy by chance, when I served on jury duty this past summer. I had no idea she worked at the court house and I recognized her from her blog's avatar.

Small world! Well, more like small island.

Next is Shirley, who happens to live about 15 minutes away from me and makes the prettiest cards. She wanted to get together to do some ink distressing, but I think she did an excellent job on her own.

There's that little Ketto again!

I also shared a trapezoid box pattern with Debi from Hilo. In return, she sent me this cute little box filled with Hilo's world famous shortbread cookies......yum!

Sorry, the cookies are long gone.... 

Another Joy, the owner of Tamiko's, sent me this cute card when I won a set of Nesties for a Tamiko's challenge. And she always adds a sweet note and extra goodies, too.

Finally, I'd like to give a shout out to Ilissa. I was shopping at my favorite Long's Drugs store and she recognized me--probably from my avatar and the fact that I was buying some Hero Arts goodies--and made me feel like a celebrity! Ilissa, you made my day!

* * *

By the time this post is up, I'll be sitting on a plane, catching the "red eye". My hubby's reward (for losing 20 pounds!) is a quick trip to Las Vega$ for the week. Hope I don't gain it all back with those yummy buffets...Is there a 24 Hour Fitness in downtown Vegas??

Thanks for your get well wishes and a special thanks to Kiara for sharing her family's "magic potion" that helped calm my cough.

Please visit here on Saturday, November 13th for a SWEEEEET birthday blog hop, complete with hidden giveaways. Bye!