Graduate Yoshi

It's graduation time again... has the school year really come to an end?  So fast, I can't keep up sometimes.  So I found out recently that my cousin Yoshi is graduating from college!!  Yay!  He worked really hard, so this is a big deal for him.   So what could be better than a Yoshi graduate spinner card for Yoshi himself?

Got the graduation hat from Island Scrapbooking.  Originally it was white, but I used my distress ink and blender tool to color it black. Now why didn't I think of using my distress inks like that before?  Duh!  Had to trim down the cap a bit since it was a bit large for his head.  Then I colored Yoshi's kimono up to look like a graduation gown.  I colored the gap between his legs so that it looked more like a gown than pants.

The star stamps used are from a PTI set I just got.  I am so happy with this set!  The other stamps have cool sentiments as the star trails, but they were more about friendship, so I decided to use the regular one.  Decided to emboss it using my glitter embossing powders.  I like how it came out- couldn't use black since Yoshi was in black and didn't want to use white, so the kraft was a nice compromise.

See how Yoshi spins?  I guess it would be better illustrated on a video, but I'm not that high tech yet.

And here's the inside.  I used a larger star for the inside and the same star trail but facing the other way.  I embossed the star and the Congrats sentiment using more silver glitter embossing powder. 

Congrats Yosh!  We're so proud of you!

Store Samples and Candy Winners!

Phew!  Did you have fun with this release?  Hope you enjoyed all the samples by the DT and myself.  I have one last sample to share with you today... Normally I try to include a sample for each store that carries our stamps.  Well, look how much our business has grown!  And this isn't all of them- just the Hawaii stores- the mainland cards were already shipped by the time I got a photo taken.  Now you know why I'm so busy right?

Went with a gatefold card this time and went to town with all my new washi paper!  Like I've said... I've been collecting boy type washi in anticipation for this release, so I thought.. I'd better use it now!  Some were from Hanko, some from the Paper Source, some from Heiko, and some from Island Scrapbooking- sorry I don't know the name of the new company they brought in, but when I find out, I'll update.

And on to the winners...

Katsura winner:  Thanh Vo

Yoshi winner:  Jes

Kenichi winner:  Jazzmom

Congratulations to all!  And thank you to everyone else who entered!  Winners, please email me at [email protected].

It's Release Day!

We made it!  It's our 7th Release and I'm so excited to hear back from all of you on how you like our stamps!  Can't wait to see all the samples in blogland too.

First of all, I have to give a BIG mahalo to Kris, our Guest Designer for this release!  Thanks Kris!  And to my girl Debi for always helping me out!  You rock!

Ok on to my last project.  Decided to go all out and make a Waterfall Mini album!  Found many tutorials online and on YouTube, so you can just do a google search for them or on YouTube for the instructions.  For some reason I love this WAAAAAY more than the original Waterfall card.

Here's the cover- honors goes to Katsura.  Do you like my red snapper?  I got it at a local store in downtown Hilo.  They import things from Japan- need to remember to check them out more regularly.  Unfortunately its too soon to get any of the small boy's day koi that comes with candy filled sticks that you can find around boy's day. I know we had a couple from past boy's days but can't seem to find them in my messy house. Thought about buying a regular one that you hang above your house, but those are waaaaay too big to fit in this photo!  So red snapper fish will have to do.

Picked this washi paper as the constant in the album.  Love the masculinity of it (is that a word?)  Next up is Yoshi- posed him in a somersault position so he looks like he's really tumbling!

Page 2 features an old favorite- Nobu! Yes, he snuck into this mini just to say hi!

The next page features Kenichi and his doggie...

And this last page features Keitaro!  He wanted to join in the fun too!

 

There's actually one more page behind Keitaro, but I didn't have any more small boy stamps that would fit!   Anyway, I'm thinking I can add on the photos on the back side of the pages and add journaling to the pages with the boys.  What do you think?

Ok so if you've been reading all of my posts, I didn't really answer the question of how I cheated in cutting out the images right?  You are probably thinking- are you ever going to answer that question?  Well, on the Katsura tag, I didn't cut out the string part of the fish.  It would've been too thin, and since I had placed him on a colored background, it looked funny with the white showing through... So I played around with my copic markers until I found the right color that was the same as the background and colored that space up to match.  I did the same for the area in between Kenichi and the doggie.  There!  Now you know my secret!

So hope you had fun with this release!  Can't wait to see what you all come up with!  Enjoy!  Be back soon with the Release 7 candy winners.

Super Fun Yoshi!

 So are you liking the new images so far?  Hope so!  Well, to give you more inspiration on using our images, I've solicited the help of a very special Guest Designer for this release.  Frankly, I needed a lot of help since I'm so junk at boy stuff, so I had to pick someone who also had a boy... You can find out who I'm talking about by checking out her blog here...

Don't forget to check out my CBFF (Crafty BFF) Debi's blog here for even more inspiration! (Thanks Debi!)  She has a boy too, so I'm sure she has some great boy projects for you.

So my project for today is using Yoshi again.  He's just full of surprises... check it out:

Is that a present I see?

Wait!  Yoshi is popping out of the present!  What a rascal!

Here's a close up of Yoshi. I actually had a lot of fun making this slider card.  I haven't made one in awhile, so I had to look up the directions again.  I forgot how much thought you have to put into it to figure out what he will be popping up from behind.

So my last story to share about Yoshi is that one time while at my house, my sister made us tuna sandwiches for lunch.  After serving us the sandwiches, my sister checked on us and my cousin Yoshi was done.  She couldn't believe it since Yoshimi and I had only taken a few bites of ours.  He claimed he ate the whole thing, but my sister must've suspected something.  She checked the trash but couldn't find it, so assumed he did eat it.  Later on when my mom came home, I don't know what she was doing but she and my sister found the tuna sandwich!  He ended up inserting the sandwich into a hole in our recliner in an effort to not have to eat it.  What a rascal yah?   That story still makes me laugh till today!

Ok, so now that you've had a good laugh for today, go check out our Guest DT and Debi's blogs for more fun.  Psst... Debi might have some candy too!  All joking aside, for the record, my cousin is not like that anymore, but I sure have fun remembering the good 'ol days!

Supplies:
Yoshi- Sister Stamps
CS- Bazzil
DP- Bo Bunny
Ribbon
Small tag punch & sentiment- SU
sentiment- Hero Arts
Pop dots
Copics

Time to Meet Yoshi!

Welcome back to Release Week!  Our next image is a playful one named Yoshi.  Yoshi is my cousin's name and is short for Yoshio.  If you remember Yoshimi, he's her brother.  Funny yah?  Yoshio and Yoshimi? When I asked my Aunty why she named them so similar names, she said my grandmother named both of them.  My cousin is actually named after his father (his first name), but we all called him Yoshi instead of his given name.  I guess so as not to confuse him with his dad.

This image is so playful, which is why I picked it to name after my cousin.  When we were young, my two cousins, Yoshi and Yoshimi used to come over early Saturday mornings- and I mean early!  Like before the sun came up.  Their mom used to work with my mom at a coffee shop, so they were dropped off for my sister to watch all of us.  I remember Yoshi used to watch cartoons as soon as they were on. I also remember him staring at my sister until she woke up on Saturdays!

Yoshi was always a bit mischevious, so I think that's why this image just screamed his name to me.  He used to irritate his little sister (like most older brothers do) and seemed to get away with more than me and Yoshimi did.  We used to have to clean the bathroom, while Yoshi used to watch TV.  Not fair I tell you!  But that's in the past and now Yoshi is not as waru bozu as he used to be.  Still I have fond memories about those Saturday mornings.  Seems like it was just a few years ago and now we are the adults!

So when my sis emailed this image to me, I had just one thought... spinner card, don't 'cha think?  She said she actually had that in mind when she drew him.  I love his pose- makes it great for interactive cards... and if you know me, I LOVE interactive cards!  So I dusted off my word window punch by SU and found a few pennies to make this spinner.  I had fun making it since it's been awhile since I've made one.

 

Well, it's not a video but you get the jist right?  Oh yes, must not forget about the washi paper.  While at CHA this year, I found a washi paper company that had some great designs.  I was happy to get my hands on them recently- perfect color too for my boys!

So here's your chance to win Yoshi... Check out the introductory post for Katsura (posted yesterday), and in addition to being a follower and leaving a comment, tell me if you had an older brother or cousin, or other family member that was mischevious too!  I have another story to tell you about Yoshi, but I'll save it for a future post! :)

Look Who's Coming Soon!

Boy oh boy!  We have a special all boy release coming your way!  You've showed us how much you loved our first boy- Nobu, so we have three more boys to share with you soon!  Introductory posts start tomorrow, so check back for more fun.