Advent Calendar

Can you believe it?  It's almost release day!  To celebrate, I have a big project to share with you today, but first I want to thank all of our hard working design team members for their great projects!  You guys are the best!  How about a round of applause for Eva, Linda, Debi and our guest designer Steph!  Thank you ladies!  And don't forget to check out Steph's and Linda's You Tube Channels for more fun!

So I told you about a big project right?

It's an advent calendar!  I know it's hard to see but I wanted to give you a view of the whole project before I share with you the details.  I must say, it took me a few days to complete this calendar.  I found a bunch of red gingham paper bags in my stash and thought they would be really cute to use in a project.  Since I had so many of them, I thought it woudl be great to use them to hold goodies or an activity to do to help countdown to Christmas!   My daughter loves her advent calendar that my mom bought for her when she was just a baby.  My mom used to put money in it, but I think my daughter cares more about taking an ornament out each day to put on this wooden tree.  She's very good about remembering to do it too. I, on the other hand would always forget to do mine as a child. I guess some things never change.

So to make the calendar, I cut out all the numbers using a Papertrey Ink numbers set.  It's so hard to find large numbers and letters, so I was thrilled to find this large size on their site.   After cutting out all the numbers, I punched out 24 circles and 24 scallop circles to mount the numbers to.  Then I cut a 3/4" band to go around each bag.   After adhering everything down, I folded over the top of the bag down towards the number.

To hang each bag to the ribbon, I decorated 24 clothespins using designer paper and double stick tape. I didn't want to have images on each clothespin, so for those that did not have an image, I just went through my stash and found red, white, and green buttons to decorate the fronts.

On certain bags, I added some of our new Christmas images and some old favorites.  Shown above is our new reindeer image.  And right below is Setsuna.  He decided to pay us a visit in this post.

Aaah, my favorite little girl... it's Yuki!

And gracing us with his presence on this next bag is Minoru.

Last but not least is our crane image.  I positioned the image at an angle so that the crane looked like it was taking off.

Well, hope you enjoyed all of our new releases!  Eh... no forget to enter to win our blog candies on each introductory post! Bwahahahahaha!

Do You Filo?

Welcome to the final day of previews!  I hope you've enjoyed seeing all the projects featuring our new images thus far.  Wanted to thank Kerry for all her help and awesome projects!  Thanks Kerry!

And make sure you check out all the featured Zodiac projects... I'm continuously floored by all the creativeness that goes on using our Chinese animals.  Thanks to Laura, Eunice, and Patti for working so hard all year!

And how can I forget Debi, Eva and Linda!  Don't forget to check out their stuff and Linda's You Tube channel.  She's giving away goodies too, so don't miss out on another opportunity to win!

That being said... wanted to share my final project for this release.  Actually, it not only features our turtle set, but I also included some old favorites in my project!  If you are on You Tube, you may have stumbled on all the filofax craze!  I admit... the first time I saw all the hype, I thought, isn't that just another planner?  Why would you want a regular planner when you can use your smartphone?  As I started watching more and more of those videos, I started to understand why it was catching on again.  I remember having planners while in school and even up to a few years ago.  But gave them up when I got my iphone... now that there's all kinds of FUN stuff to decorate your filofax, I'm back on the bandwagon and loving it.  (much thanks to Nadine Tx, OhaiJoy, and Lfundoo for enabling... Bwahahahaha!).  

So the "authentic" type is made by Filofax, but I didn't really want to spend the money on something I wasn't sure I'd be that into.  So I just got a plain one from my Office Max, and I must say I'm pretty happy with it.  Now I understand the washi tape craze too!  OMG, if you aren't decorating your planner, you gotta try it using all your tapes, stickers, and stamps!

Which brings me to my project.  It's actually a present for my sister. She's coming to visit soon, so I thought this would be a fun present for her.  Instead of a Filofax, I got the BoBunny binder and calendar inserts.  The papers are already cute, so I didn't have to add much except our images to personalize it.  The first page I wanted to share features our turtle set from this release.  I love how it has a To Do section, Notes section and a Don't Forget section.  I think this one also has a pocket, so you can stick in tags and other note.

Here's a better look at our turtle friends.. "Beep Beep"

Here's the other pages- see Yoshimi?

Here's a better look...

And here's Ayako! I think I chose her for this page since sh'e holding an umbrella.

 And can't forget Daba!!!

Otsu had to make an appearance too...

Do you like this next layout?  I had fun hand drawing the kite string..

 And since we don't have any Halloween images (yet- hint hint Denise!).. I colored up Miyoko in her best fall attire and gave her a pumpkin by Dandelion Designs (Hi Jean!).

And finally, Santa rounds out December.  Couldn't have a planner without Setsuna right?

 And here he is...

It was so hard choosing which images I wanted to use in the planner.  Hope you decide to start using regular planners again and decorate them with our images!

Don't forget to enter to win our blog candies by leaving a comment on each of the introductory posts.

Happy Holidays

Hope you enjoyed all of the samples for our Release #4 images. Thanks again to Debi and Leanne for all your help!

I was able to visit with Aunty Jan last weekend while visiting Oahu, and she gave me a couple more samples. She decided to cover up a fan she bought at a local craft store using our holiday images. Shown here are Yuki and Setsuna wishing you a Happy Holiday. To decorate the edge of the fan, she decided to make little presents all around the border. She told me she punched and cut out different sized rectangles and squares to do this and added ribbon, baker's twine and punches to decorate each present. Such a cute idea! You can't tell from this photo, but there's actually a hook where you can hang the fan up on the wall or on your tree.



Here's a close up of her Santa...

And sweet Yuki...


Supplies:
Yuki and Setsuna- Sister Stamps
Happy Holidays sentiment- Stampendous
Fan- Flora Dec.
Ribbon
Baker's Twine
Copics
Not shown- Washi paper on back

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to share another card using the holiday stamps before we start getting into the New Year's ones. I bought this Cherry Lynn doily die in Honolulu and wanted to use it on something. You'll need to run it through your machine more than once but I'd say the results are worth it. I love the intricate lines it forms- makes it really look like a doily! Had this colored up Setsuna waiting on my desk to be used, so I added him the front as the focal point.


Here's a close up of St. Nick...


And here's the inside of the card... I FINALLY used my Sizzix 3-D tree die I got last year after Christmas. It was really easy to put together and the results are awesome. Now I wish I got the snowman one too. I placed Yuki next to the tree by attaching her to the tree itself.



And finished it off with a sentiment. Layered the Merry Christmas (Island Scrapbooking Laser Cut) onto some Spellbinder labels that I used as tags. Because it looked rather plain, I added the ribbon and holly branch.


Have a great week!

The Joy of Setsuna

So you already saw my Yuki joy fold card right? Well, it was so fun making the joy fold card, that I decided to do it again with Setsuna. I made a bunch of these cards and sent to some of the retailers as a shop sample. I love how this kind of card allows you to use a bunch of coordinating patterned paper together.


Be back soon to share some cards made by Aunty Jan using our 2nd Release images.

T'was The Night Before Christmas

So after I made yesterday's card, I had a vision of another card...

This card reminds me of the T'was the Night Before Christmas poem, or maybe the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas?". Anyway, I really really really wanted to somehow make Setsuna peeping out from the chimney. So after doing some altering, I was able to make him fit into the fireplace opening! Then I added Yuki, who came down to check her stocking and found it full. It was so much fun using the two images together.


Here's a close up of Yuki...


And here's a close up of Sestuna peeking out from the fireplace...



Don't forget, there's still time to enter into our blog candy giveaway! You have until 9/30/11 at 11:59 HST to enter. For more info, check out our introductory posts (Setsuna) and post on each introductory post to be eligible for each image. Good Luck!

Naughty or Nice?

I have to admit, I used to always get worried when Christmas time came around... That's when mom used to bust out the whole... better be good or Santa won't come routine. The whole reason why I was worried is because one year the Easter Bunny never showed and I was told it was because I was naughty... so after that, I always worried if I was good enough to get something from Santa.


I guess that was the inspiration for this card I'm sharing with you today. I used one of my Lawn Fawn alphabet sets to spell out "Naughty or Nice?" since I've never seen any regular stamps with this sentiment. You notice Setsuna has not filled the stockings yet right? I think he's trying to figure out if all of them should be filled or not! BTW- the fireplace and stockings are also Lawn Fawn stamps- can you tell I like using them? They seem to always work so perfectly with our stamps. For some fun, I decided to use some patterned cardstock for the "carpet".


Here's a close up of Setsuna.


After I made up this card, I got inspired to make another one using this same image. I will share this other card with you tomorrow. See you then! Don't forget to check out Debi's and Amy's blogs for more holiday fun!

Here Comes Setsuna!

Setsuna (or calm snow) is the first of our Release #3 images. He was actually my brain child as I love Santa images and suggested the idea to my sis. I have a soft spot for Santa's and love how she incorporated Santa into our line. I really didn't expect any holiday images for this year, but once she sent them to me, I knew we had to squeeze in an extra unplanned release this year.



Found this washi paper in red and green and thought it would be perfect for a Christmas card! Teamed it up with a laser cut sentiment by Island Scrapbooking and the card was pretty quick to put together.


Can't wait to hear what you think of our little Santa boy, so if you would like to win Setsuna, here's the rules:

• Post a comment on THIS POST by September 30, 2011 11:59pm HST.
• Become a follower if you aren't already- please follow publicly so we can verify you are a follower.
  
• Tell me what your favorite holiday memory is.

Check in tomorrow to meet our next image!

Release #3 Images Revealed...

Wow- September is really flying by! Can't believe it's already time to reveal our next set of images due out on 10/1/11.




My sis sent me these images during the summer and I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself! Maybe it's cause I've been playing with the Release #1 and Release #2 images for about a year now, so these holiday stamps were a breath of fresh air and so exciting to incorporate into holiday projects. Can't wait to start sharing some of the samples with you soon. Please check in for introductions of each image this week.