It's Release Day!

Really?  Is it really February already!?  Seems like I was just in LA shopping my heart away.  Now I'm sitting here planning out our next release!  

Before I share some final projects using our new girls, I just wanted to thank my Design Team again for all their great work!  Thanks Eva, Linda, and Debi! You guys are the best!

And thank you to everyone who played in our blog candy giveaway!  Can't believe how many people have already entered!  Will be announcing the winners soon, so stay tuned.

So I host a craft fair at my house every year, but this year I also did another craft fair in November.  Call me crazy, but I decided to participate at the last minute because I had some stuff already made and wanted to test the market.  Every year I try to come up with new ideas because let's face it, you don't want to buy the same calendar every year right?  Used the images Denise colored up on the computer and it came out very nice!  Even nicer than my coloring!  Because these were digital images, I could size them larger for a 12x12 layout, but you could easily do this type of project on a smaller scale using the rubber stamp size.

This calendar also gave me a good excuse to bust out my washi paper!  I printed out the year at a glance calendar on the computer and the 2014 are PTI number dies.  They are large but sure do the trick for my calenders!  Here's Harumi...

And Minako.  I espeically love this one. So sweet!

And finally little Misaki!

Thank you for joining us for all the projects and previews.  I'll be announcing the blog candy winners soon and share our next release sneak peek!

Live, Love, Smile!

Woo Hoo!  We made it to the last day of previews!  Before I start on my project, wanted to thank my DT girls for all their hard work and help for this release!  Please give them some love:

Debi

Eva

Linda

Linda's You Tube channel

One of the highlights and pretty much the main purpose of our trip to LA was to attend Prima ArtVenture!  It was a 2 day event consisting of 6 3-hour classes taught by Prima Educators from around the world!!!!  I couldn't contain myself!  I was pretty star struck from our first class. Our instructor was the Limor Webber!  She regularly teaches on Live with Prima and travels around the world teaching.  Lucky I was with Linda, who is much friendlier that me.  She wasn't shy about giving the instructors our omiyage or asking to take pictures.  Here's Linda with Limor...

So I got brave and asked her for a photo too.  She's a tiny little thing!  I was the same height as her!

This is how I knew I liked Limor....

She totally photo bombed us!  LOL!  Before things got too hectic, we took a photo of the project in her class.  I was afraid of taking that thing back on the plane with me.  Amazing yah?  She is a true magician.

Limor told us to not put on the objects that were too high if we are traveling.  So I only did about half my project in class.  This is what I came home with.  I put it in my hand carry for safe keeping... in bubble wrap that is...

So you are probably wondering why I'm talking so much about Limor's class?  Well, this is how I ended up finishing my project!!

I've never had so much fun gluing flowers to a project before!  The best tip she gave us was to butcher your flowers.  (Gasp!)  But it really is a great way to stretch your products.

My next photo features Minako in a polariod.    I adhered some acetate to the back of the polaroid and then glued some butterflies to it.  Makes them look like they are flying.  Then added in some floral sprays I got from Downtown LA.

Here's a shot to show you the depth and dimension of the project.

At the front corner of the book, I applied inka gold to one of my Prima wood veneers so that it would match my project. Never did that before so had fun playing with the inka gold.

That white alien looking flower was also from Downtown LA. The rest of the flowers are by Prima (of course).  I applied gesso to them to give them a shabbier distressed look.
 
And included Harumi too!  Colored up that Love wood veneer with more inka gold.

 And couldn't leave out Misaki right?  Cut up some acetate and adhered the sparrows to them to make them look like they are flying.

And did the same to the Martha Stewart Butterflies.  Another Bona must have.

And at the other corner of the book, the last wood veneer colored up in Inka gold.

Here's another shot of the entire project.

 Hope I did Limor proud!  Can you believe even with all the stuff I put on this project, I had tons of leftovers from this class!

Well, tomorrow is release day!  Yay!  Don't forget to enter to win our blog candy.. you have till 11:59pm HST tonight to leave a comment.  Good Luck!

Love-ly Minako

Yes!  Welcome to our first day of sneak peeks for our new release- Release #20!!!  Woah.. has it really been 20 releases?  Time sure flies.

So awhile back, I asked Denise for a girl that was sitting.  I guess I was thinking more like I could put her on a bench or chair... she gave me this image... 

I was soooo happy!  It wasn't what I was thinking, but I liked it even more!  You can't really see that good cause she's hiding behind those (Prima) flowers, but she's kneeling.  She's so sweet looking, she reminded me of our friend Minako who is actually from Japan (Hi Minako!).  I met Minako years ago when she worked at Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut in the Visitor Center. I worked in the office so I knew her, but didn't really talk to her that much.  Then my friend Bryant (who also worked at MLMN) started dating her, and we got to know her better.  She is the sweetest girl you'll meet!  So cute that they met at our old work place. They moved back to Oahu, but we still keep in touch through social media.

So since this image is so sweet looking, I thought it would be perfect to name the image after her!

Before I get to my project, I wanted to just get something off my chest.  After an awesome awesome week in LA with my bestie Linda... I came home with tons of craft supplies.  So while I was cleaning my room (again) to make room for all my loot, I decided that I should not hoard anymore!  I have made a conscious decision to bust into my supplies and not let the fact that "I really love that and don't want to use it all for fear of not being able to get it again" stand in my way.  Phew... I feel better now.

Ok on to my project!!!  Keeping the above in mind, I carefully opened up my pack of corrugated notecards and decided to start using them!  I gave it a coat of gesso for a shabby distress look.  Then cut up my new Princess paper by Prima (Gasp!)  I love that paper.  To keep it shabby, I distressed the edges and used my new Prima chalk inkers (Yay!) around the edges. I did not plan on buying them but now I'm glad I gave into my "just buy it" mentality on my trip cause I love them!  Now I'm glad I got the whole set.

Next layer is hard to see, but I actually cut up some cheese cloth.  Love the way it looks on a project!  And the last layer is an old heart doily- sorry threw away the packaging so not sure what company made them.  Then it was time to decorate!

 Started by hot gluing the beaded spray I got from Downtown LA. I like these acrylic sprays cause it gives you a nice look without overpowering your subject.

Then I glued down Minako.  Over Minako, I added some Prima Flowers!  Yep, that's right, using my flowers without cringing!

And the final touch was the purple Petaloo butterfly and Prima bling.

Thanks for stopping by!  I have so much more to share with you!  I guess you can say I got my mojo back.  Totally inspired by Prima Artventure!  If you want to read about Lfundoo's and Kiki's Epic Crafty Adventure, check out my blog posts here...  or watch Linda's haul's here...

And.. didn't forget about our blog candy!  Here's the deal:
1)  Leave a comment on THIS post if you would like to be entered to win Minako by 11:59pm on 1/31/14; and
2)  Tell me about a supply you've been hoarding!  Mine is my Prima flowers.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow!!

Are You Ready?

HELLLLLLOOOOOO!!!!  Wow, it's been a long time huh?  Well, I've been very busy since our last release... got through some craft fairs, the holidays, a trip to LA, attended Prima ArtVenture and did a LOT of shopping, and came home to work on the next release!  Phew!  Are you as exhausted as I am?  Well, now that I've been refreshed, it's time to introduce our newest additions to our Sister Stamps family!  You see, I've also been busy getting a bunch of new images ready for future releases too and am excited to hear how you like them.  We have some new and fun images scheduled for this year that I'm soooo excited about.  Some of these images have been on my wish list for years, and can finally become reality!  Woo Hoo!

First up is our new Girl's Day release!  Yay!  More girl images to add to your collection!  Here's a sneak peek at the girls themselves.

So please check back tomorrow as we start our introductory posts so you can get to know them a little better.  Bye!