Happy Summer!

First of all, thanks to all of you for your sweet comments and good wishes for me on joining the Purple Onion Designs team! I'm a little nervous but super excited to start working with a company that I've long admired. In a few days, I'll be sharing my first cards as an official Onion....so stay tuned!

Do you think it's too early for a summery card? With the month of May just a few days away, I think summer is zooming towards us sooner than we think. And living in Hawaii....well, it's summer almost every day!

I couldn't resist using Tiddly Inks' Snorkel Bunny and a fun sketch by Sasya for my card. Rather than search for patterned paper, I used three of Hero Arts' background stamps to make my own papers.

For the background, I clear embossed Graph Background and ink distressed with Broken China and Faded Jeans. I water splotched the card for a bit of interest.

The pennants were clear embossed with Raindrop Background and ink distressed with Orange Marmalade and Wild Honey.

The piece behind the bunny was stamped with Large Canvas Stripes in Frayed Burlap and ink distressed with the same color. The sentiment was handstamped by me, using my favorite $1 alpha stamps and I added a touch of Glossy Accents to the bunny's snorkel mask.

Stamps: Tiddly Inks, Hero Arts, Studio G

Inks: Ranger Distress inks, Memento

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Other: Copics, clear embossing powder, Marvy scallop circle punch, Glossy Accents, pop dots, twine

Make sure that you visit Tiddly Inks tomorrow, April 30, for a Treasure Hunt Blog Hop to celebrate their first birthday. There will be prizes galore and a few freebies, just for hopping along. Hope to see you there!

Got Onions?

Purple Onions, that is! I'm honored to announce that I am now on the Purple Onion Designs design team! (Pinching myself....pinching myself)

After I ordered a set of their stamps, Michele, the owner, sent me a confirmation along with an inquiry: Would I be interested in making some cards if she sent me some of their new stamps? 

I think she could hear me scream my reply.

After sending her my card samples, she asked if I would be interested in joining the team! I was a little hesitant at first, but decided it was just what I needed to get back into stamping again.

I love the assortment of styles that POD offers. From cute and whimsical to their elegant butterflies and of course, their awesome noteblocks. All of their stamps are deeply etched, unmounted red rubber. I have a stash of cling foam, but there are ways of stamping unmounted stamps perfectly without any mounts or wood.

Here's a card that I made with their Citrus Set. I added some Glossy Accents to the orange, and cut apart the "punny" sentiment to fit. I also used Reverse Wonky Rectangles again, which is becoming a favorite new die.

Thank you, Michele, for inviting me on board! I can't wait to share my cards with the new stamp release next week.

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share my happy news with you!

Stamps: Purple Onion Designs, Hero Arts Large Canvas Stripes
Inks: Ranger distress ink, Versafine 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts kraft
Other: Copics, Spellbinders, Couture Creations embossing folder, Glossy Accents, sheer ribbon, pop dots

Hello...Happy Easter!

A quick post and card to wish you all a Happy Easter! I printed out this Pure Innocence Digistampcharacter and colored her up in a few minutes.

Rather than struggle with coloring a "smooth" egg, I dabbed the colorless blender over the entire surface of the colored egg. I love the mottled look.



I also used the new Spellbinder die called Reverse Wonky Rectangles. Isn't that a fun name?

* * *

My Hero Arts Flickr friends will recognize Ivy, who I met for lunch yesterday, along with her hubby Eddie, and the B-boys, Brandon and Bryan.

I'm so glad we got to meet up, and I had the privilege of sitting next to BryBry, who scarfed down all of his popcorn chicken.

Thanks for the goodies, Ivy, and I hope to see the Wongs next year--maybe at the new Disney Aulani resort?

Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip home!

Lily Pad's Frames, Dies & Dimension challenge

Have you entered any Lily Pad challenges? I missed the deadline for the color challenge and I wanted to enter the current one, sponsored by Globecraft Memories. I don't own any of those cool frames, so I created a simplified tent card instead.

I used "Chickies!2" by Mo's Digital Pencil and colored it with Copics. I followed a great tutorial on making a tent card here. The patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink and I added some punched hydrangea and Liquid Pearls for accent. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

Hope you're all having a great week so far! Thanks, always, for stopping by...

Stamps: Mo's Digital Pencil Too, Hero Arts
Ink: Ranger distress inks
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper: Papertrey Ink
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, MS hydrangea punch, Liquid Pearls, pop dots

Back with some Mo's

Hi and Happy Monday! Thought I'd share some cards made with a digital stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil Too. For a limited time, Mo offered this digi called "What's Cookin'?" for $1, with proceeds from the sale going to Japan for the victims of the recent earthquake/tsunami.

This little girl so reminds me of my older daughter who just loves to bake. I think I'll be sending this to her with a copy of "Two Bite Cupcakes" for her to try. The papers are from Memory Box and the border die is from Tim Holtz. I hand dyed the seam binding and the button is handmade by the talented Fimo queen, Jane.

I also made this tag and was going to enter this in Lily Pad's Color Challenge, but I missed the deadline.
The background is stamped with Hero Arts Envelope Pattern and I used some washi tape to attach the image to the tag.

The sentiment was handstamped using an awesome set of Studio G alpha stamps that I got years ago for $1! Such a great deal.


So far, "What's Cookin'?'" has raised $500 with proceeds going to Hands on Tokyo and GlobalGiving. I'm happy to support Mo's and all the other stamp companies who started fundraisers for such a great humanitarian cause.

* * *

And I'm super excited to share that my Flickr friend Ivy is making a return visit to our islands and I'm hoping I'll get to see her, Eddie, and the B-boys--Brandon and Bryan! Will post pics of our meeting in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by today......have a wonderful week!

Phew!

This past month was undoubtedly the busiest I've ever been in my life. Two days ago, the newly married couple left for Alabama and our house is quiet once more.

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and good wishes for Joy and Jared and for your condolences, too. Sending virtual hugs to you for your cards and emails that brought comfort to me and my family. Stampers have the biggest hearts! ♥

Here's a sampling of some of the cards that I received:

Top row left to right: Shirley Nakaima, Judy Jung, Kiara Lee

Second row left to right: Kelly Booth, Teresa Wang, Alice Wertz

To top it off,  my dear friend Alice sent me "Key Lime", a crocheted kitty that she lovingly created to cheer me up.

Alice claims that Key Lime has an attitude, but I had a lot of fun positioning him in various positions...

I think he has a lot of character, don't you?

Thank you, dear friends, for bringing a bit of sunshine into my life! I'll be back soon with a few cards to share. Have a great weekend!

                                            

my giveaway winner...and a little announcement

Hello friends! I'd like to take this time to thank all of you who entered my humble giveaway and for all the new followers I gained after the awesome Lily Pad blog hop. I just noticed that I have over 300 followers!

The winner of my giveaway, according to random.org, is Emily Leiphart. Congratulations, Emily! Please email me so I can send your goodies off to you.

On a sad note, my Mom passed peacefully on March 30th and is now together with my Dad. We all got to say our goodbyes to her and the amazing thing is that she hung on for 15 days until all her grandchildren flew in and were at her bedside. And we're happy to know she had the best seat in the house at our daughter's wedding yesterday.

Here's a shot of the happy couple at their reception. The weather was perfect--not a single raindrop fell--and our family has grown immensely with the addition of our new relatives from Alabama.

And take a look at the kokeshi cake topper dolls that my daughter found here on Etsy. So cute!
















I hope you'll bear with me as we get things settled, and I'll try to be back visiting you all in blogland very soon!

Love and hugs,
Donna