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!

Be Yourself Teacups

How cool were those DT projects?  Can't wait to see more of them today!  Seriously.. I don't ask to see projects before they are posted, so when I wake up in the morning of group post days I get a little giddy!

Don't forget to check them out again today to see what other creativity has been unleashed:

Debi

Eva

Linda

Linda's You Tube channel

On to my project... Have you ever seen a project that you just can't stop thinking about?  Well, if you've ever watched Bona's channel Live, Love, Scrap on You Tube, you'll understand what I'm talking about.  Her creative mind is on another level that I can't even comprehend!  I love all of her projects and her style is so pretty.  Don't know how she does it!    One of the projects that I've been drooling over is her stacked teacups.  I even bought the Sizzix die because of it!  Here's what I came up with...

So if you know me, you'll know I'm a pastel girl.  Most likely I'll choose pink over other pastels.  My friend Linda on the other hand is a purple girl.  So I was a bit surprised on our trip when she started choosing pinks instead of purples.  And even more surprised now that I'm choosing lavenders over pinks!  I know pink will always be a favorite of mine, but if you know me, sometimes I get bored and need to try new things.. including color.

In the top teacup, I filled it with a large lavender rose that I picked up in Downtown LA.  OMG, we had so much fun getting lost and finding awesome deals in Downtown LA.  It was a bit scary though, so as Creative Young Mama says... hope you are wearing covered shoes so you don't get pee'd on!  She cracks me up.  It wasn't quite that bad, but you know what?  I was soooooooo worth it. Go check out my blog posts and Linda's YT haul's to see what I'm talking about.

I also cut out a label from my Spellbinder's dies (see I'm even using some of my old stuff!) and stamped the "Be Yourself, Nobody does it better" stamp I just got from Michaels on my trip.  Love, love, love this sentiment! And can't forget Ha-chan!  Love how she is peeking out from behind the rose!  See... very versatile!

And decided I wanted something to dangle from the side of the teacup.  I'm a sucker for dangling stuff.  So I ended up tying a bow out of my pearl trim and glued it to the side.

On the middle cup, I added Misaki and her birdy friends!  

And because the teacups were made out of lightweight paper, they kept falling over with all the added embellishments.  To stabilize it, I glued the bottom of the cup to a circle, then glued the circle to a doily, then glued another circle to the bottom of the doily.  Seemed to help stabilize it better so it won't fall down as much.  Then I glued more purple flowers to the base of the cup.

It's no where near as nice as Bona's project, but I had fun making it!  At least I got to use my teacup die!  Check back tomorrow for my last project!

Misaki Money Jar

We made it to our last day of introductions!  Woo Hoo!  Hope you are liking the projects so far.  Don't forget to enter to win!

Our last new image for this release is Misaki!  Misaki is the real Minako's youngest girl. She's so cute too.  Just like her sister Ha-chan...  Hopefully we can see them again soon.

Here's a photo of the pretty family...

So being that I spent a LOT of money on supplies while on my trip, I thought I needed to start saving again.  Have you seen these on Pinterest?  I guess it's been around for awhile, but I've never heard of it till now.  I guess the premise is to save each week.  Week #1 is $1, week #2 is $2, etc.  Some people are also doing it backwards where you start with $52 then $51, etc.  Or there's even the option of putting in $26 each week.  You are supposed to be able to save $1400 by the end of the year.

Of course, being the crafter that I am, I had to have my jar first before I can put my money in it right??!  So I decided to finally use one of my aqua mason jars that I've been hoarding and pretty it up to make saving more fun.  Here's what I came up with.

Decided to choose Misaki because she looks like she is playing with the sparrows.  I want to be able to "play" with my savings, so I thought she was the perfect image to put on my savings jar or "play" money.  Here's a better look at Misaki...

And her sparrow friends..

The hardest part about decorating the jar was to cut up that beautiful bling!  Got the pearl and rhinestone trim from One Little Dreamer's Zibbet shop and have been hoarding that for a few months. It's so beautiful, had a hard time cutting it, but was determined to start using my stash!  At least it will be on a project that I'll probably keep for awhile right!

Under the bling trim, I had glued on some lace trim that I got from Hobby Lobby.  Next shot is of the jar cover.  I ended up gesso'ing the cover to make it white. Then glued on some bling trim around the edge.

If you live in the mainland, they have lavender and pink mason jars at the 99 cent store.  I'm so jealous!  Totally regret not going there now!  I'm sure I would've bought enough to fill another box to ship home.  LOL!

So, if you want to enter to win Misaki, here's all you have to do:
1)  leave a comment on THIS POST by 11:59pm on 1/31/14; and
2) tell me if you are going to do that 52 week savings plan.  Believe it or not, I had some leftover cash from my trip, so I put that in the jar.  I am thinking I will do it backwards so that by the time the holidays roll around, I don't have to fork over $50 each week!

Stop by tomorrow for more Release #20 projects!

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!