Do you believe in Angels?

I do! and I know one! My dear sister Jen is now an angel! She just received her wings last week. Visit Jen's blog, she'll be creating with her new TAC products very soon. If you're interested in checking out products that The Angel Company offers, tell Jen I sent you.... you'll get a sweet deal on a catalog!

New tag by Corie

I was tagged by Corie in her challenge to pay it forward by sending out RAK cards. Whatcha gotta do is that you have to send a card to anyone (family, friends, fellow bloggers, etc.) and then tag five others to do the same... So, I am going to tag these five lucky individuals who then have to send a card to anyone and keep the chain going! After you do this kind deed, you get to put this cool badge on your blog...

1. Cheryl from Life is Sweet
2. Jean from Stamping Spot Studio

3. Corinne from Stamping with Roxy

4. Ann Marie from Rest and Be Thankful

5. Jodie from Jus' Scrap

Make someone's day by sending them a RAK! Thanks gals for joining in on the fun! I'll post my RAK for this tag sometime this week.

More last days of summer fun!

Today (Sunday) we headed out to the other side of the island over at Kapolei to go to the Farm Fair since today was the last day of the fair. Nolan invited his BF Jacob to come and I invited Joy and Taelyn. We met Michelle and her daughter Amara at the fair. Boy, was it hot and dusty too!! We ended up staying for almost 5 hours!! Here's a few pics of our day...everyone definately had a blast and we came home tired, brown from all of that dirt and broke - didn't realize the prices of the rides and food!!

Here's a pic of Nolan and Jacob eating pizza...it was really yummy! (I took a bite out of Nolan's piece).

Here's a pic of the cute piggy that Taelyn won and gave to me! That girl is such a good game player, so lucky, you all should borrow her when you go to Vegas :) She is such a sweetheart XO

A card from Jessica

Big *island hugs* to Jessica for this beautiful card! I love all the layering she did on this card, not to mention the linen thread (am I right?) on the corners she hand-stitched on. Jessica sent this card to thank me for her blog candy. Mahalo for the card, I feel so special!

Here's a pic of my family at the grad party last night. Kody was so sweet to personally thank me for doing the favors and also got this beautiful orchid flower lei too! Best Wishes, Kody!

We sat on the same table as Sherry and Lorraine and their families. Here's a pic of Sherry, Lorraine and Cami (Kody's mom). (L-R me, Cami, Lorraine & Sherry).

200 Graduation party favors!!

I've been extra busy these past few days making party favors for my dear friend Cami's sons graduation party. Kody graduated from Iolani School on June 2nd and his party is this Saturday! This is our gift to Kody. My whole family got involved in making these favors as we made 200 of them!! Thanks mom and Dad!! They are my biggest supporters!!Thank you also to Wini for helping me do 80 of them!! We learned this cute party favor using a 4X6 photo from Brian over at Photocraft. Inside holds Starburst candies. I also made a tag that I attached on the top of the favor and attached it with ribbon. I found these cute soccer ribbons at Ben Franklin a while ago (ribbon hoarding). Thanks for looking!!

Last days of summer...

For most of our children, the end of summer is here! School for my son starts on August 1st so he's trying to pack in all the fun he can before it's all over! Today, I took a vacation day from work to spend time with him. He decided that he wanted to go to Hawaiian Brian's Billiards. His dad took him there once and he had so much fun that he decided that's where we would spend a part of our day. It was relaxing for me too, no, I didn't join in their game of pool...whaaat??? what did I do? I read my new Card Creations magazine and made a list of the new stamp sets and accessories I'm going to be ordering in my next SU order. I guess it was the idea that I spent time with him and not so much that I didn't join in the game. I did watch them play in between my oohing and aaahing over the cool card creations...and I did take a couple of pics...

Tutorial using the spiral punch

Use designer series paper and a spiral punch to create a cover for your 5X5 on board journal. The instructions were provided to me courtesy of one of my stamping sisters from Stamped with Aloha - SU demonstrator, Tara Takatsuka - thanks Tara!! It really worked!! I love it!

First, Cut 2 pieces of your designer paper at 5 1/4" X 5 1/4".

Line up your paper and the spiral book. Mark the center of the 1st hole on the right with a pencil.

With a scissors, slit the mark you just made from the edge, about 1/4".

Line up the right edge of the punch with the slit you just cut and punch with the spiral punch. You will end up with two holes to the left of your slit.

To get a hole where the slit is, flip the paper over so that the slit is on the left.

Line up the right hole with the punch edge so you are only punching the hole where the slit is (you will be re-punching the other two holes you already made). Ta-da! This is what your paper should look like if you punched it correctly. I tested this out using junkie paper so I wouldn't waste my precious designer paper!
Then turn the paper back so the holes are on your right again (how you started) and punch the rest of the holes.

I used the SU anywhere glue stick to adhere the ds to the book. Here's the rest of the ingredients I used to make the completed project: *Moose You* stamp set, chocolate chip ink pad, Dashing designer paper, spiral punch, 5/8" old olive grosgrain ribbon, real red and very vanilla cardstock.

Thank you all for patiently waiting for me to do this tutorial! If any of you give it a try, please be sure you share with me your book!

I love this RAK from Denise!

I'm loving receiving these RAK's in the mail! Here's the RAK I received from Denise from Oregon. MAHALO!! (thank you!). It's such a lovely card!! I love the colors and the layout of this card. Will post the RAK I made for the JT Aloha Monthly RAK club tomorrow.

Jen's Cotton Candie Lane Store

Hey all! If you haven't noticed on my sidebar, Jen's little C's store button is gone! But, did you see the cute **pink** button shown here and in my sidebar, for Cotton Candie Lane?? It's Jen's new ebay store! Check it out....



***If you are not an eBay member, and see something you like, just visit Jen over at Pieces of Me, and let her know that I sent ya, she is flexible, and will be able to service your needs!!!

Christmas Card Class samples - Done!

Spent all weekend brainstorming with Wini on making the 50 Christmas cards using the new Winter Bright simply scrappin' scrapbook kit! I like this year's christmas kit better than last years. So, now that the samples are done, it's time to set a date for this class.

Here's a taste of what the cards look like. At a first glance, just like I mentioned in an earlier email when I posted the old Christmas kit cards, the cards look so "white" and plain...but the more I worked with them, it grew on me and now I love the cards! I guess when you make cards in bulk, you can't spend too much time on one card, right??

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!

Rockin Girl Blogger

Wow! Jen has nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! I know, I'm probably the last one in the blogging world to acknowledge this honor, but hey, I've been busy!! Just wanted to say "Thanks Jen!!" In reading everyone's blog about these cool badges, it is my understanding that we can vote for gals even thought they were already nominated...so here's my five nominations...and you are all right, it's so hard to pick just five!! I love all of the bloggers as you can see my blog sistah list growing.
Jen from Pieces of Me. This gal has such a variety of entertainment happening on her blog! She is my dahling island sister and also my downline too! Such talent!
Allison from Stampin' When I Can. Who doesn't look forward to Allison's email to check out all of those new bloggers, challenges, tutorials, blog candy giveaways and more! This gal is a wow!
Corie from Creations by Corie. Corie's blog is also one that I visit daily. I love her work! I feel like I know Corie personally through these nice surprise emails she sends. So sweet!
Corinne from Stamping with Roxy. I "found" Corinne's blog while surfing blogs and I immediately fell in love with everything that she did. I also love the personal emails too! So neat how friendships are started through this wonderful world of blogging. Lots of talent here!
Jean from Stampin Spot Studio. Jean is a good friend and my CTMH gal. We get together during our lunch hour when our schedules permit to bounce ideas off each other. I love her blog as she incorporates stamping and creating together with her family life. Love those cats!
Thanks to all of you for your love and support of my blog!

RAK from Corie

What a surprise! I got a beautiful RAK from Corie after she received one of my star books. I'm glad you liked the book! Mahalo sister for this card. It's so nice to receive things in the mail besides bills and junk mail. Corie does beautiful work, check out her site and I'm sure you'll agree. Thanks Corie! Love the card!

2500 hits blog candy winner!

Thank you to all of you who posted such nice comments, signed my guest book and also emailed me personally to allow me to add your link to my blog sistah list! Wowee! I feel the love {blush}...

Well, with so many of you gals trying for this collection of goodies, I entered all of your names in the randomizer and this was really kinda neat/strange because I did it 3 times and the same name popped up on #18, that's for our 18th anniversary...and that name and winner of my candy is Joy! Congrats Joy! Since I know where to find you, I will be delivering your goodies personally! Yipee!

I am working on another bunch of celebration goodies. This time, it'll be for my 3500 hits. Can't believe I'm falling behind - again!! I know you all said not to stress out about it, but the truth is I do. It's when I do my "best" work!

Anyway, thanks to ALL of you for playing...try back when I post my new goodies for my 3500 hits.

Mini card

I made this card because I stamped 2 of these elephant images when I created my submission for Jen's card sketch #7. Didn't want to waste it, especially since I colored this guy, so turned it into a 3x3 card. Added some of our colored brads. I love brads!

Card from Patty

Thought I'd share with you the cute card I received from Patty H. Patty sent me this cute card to thank me for the tin she got from one of my candy giveaways. Thanks Patty! Love the card!

2500 hits candy giveaway - finally!

ETA: oops! I forgot to tell you those little details on this candy!! My candy includes my *last* tin...yup, my very last! I stamped the embellishment using the stamp set Baroque Motifs - I just love this set! I cut out from black chipboard the flourish using my sizzix die. I was pleased with the end result. Then I decorated a 5x5 on board journal using the same embellishment and stamp set. Of course, this is a matching set of goodies. Don't know if you can see the "bling" in the middle of the flower, but it's our own rhinestone brads...love those! Oh, BTW, I'm tucking in the tin 10 scallop ovals and 10 ovals too! I just bought 6 marvy punches from Fisher Hawaii yesterday - yipee!! The prices were unbelievable and I HAD to buy them all so now I want to share with you! Last, but not least, I'm including a accent & element set that I bought from the Spring Mini catty. I bought a couple of them and have not used them (this is brand new). So there you have it!
P.S. I took pics and promise to do this simple tutorial on how to use your spiral punch to align it to fit the 5x5 journal perfectly. and I didn't forget the star book tutorial either - just didn't have time to put it together. Is anyone still interested??

I'm done. I work on *Hawaiian Time* (haha!) for those of you who don't know what that means, hey! we should check with Jen! Jen does a pidgin word of the week...ANYWAY...I finally finished my prizes or I should say gifts because I feel like I'm making fun gifts to share with one lucky gal out there! Here are the gifts:
All I'd really like for you all to do is to sign my guest book if you haven't already. Some of you guys are so shy...I'd love to see your gorgeous faces! I'm also looking for more blog sistahs to add to my blog sistah list. If you want to inspire me and other sistahs, leave your link for me so I can add you on! That's it! A winner will be selected randomly on Sunday, July 22...oh BTW is my wedding anniversary ...holy moly, we're celebrating 18 years!

I'm not usually late

What happened???! Oh boy! I thought I was keeping track of my hits and I swear I had more time. I passed the 2500 mark that I did say I was going to celebrate with more goodies. Okay, I'm almost done with the prize!! Will post the prizes tonight as well as whatcha need to win it! Yay! I'm off to work now (I do have a day job that does not involve crafts - boo!) Have a terrific Tuesday!

Jen's Sketch Challenge #7

You know I always want to participate in these sketch challenges and maybe one day I'll do more than one (good luck!) but I decided to do Jen's challenge this week and here it is!

Since Jen said it could be any shape, I wanted to do a square so my card is a 6x6 square. I used Soft Sky, Blue Bayou and Not Quite Navy and Old Olive CS. Used the ds paper from the sampler pack. (Of course now, you can buy them in full 12x12 sheets). I used that cute elephant from the Year after Year stamp set that I colored using Sahara sand refill ink and a blender pen. The stars are from the chipboard set called On Board Blossoms & Basics which I colored by using the direct to ink pad method (Old Navy). The "Adorable" sentiment is from Warm Words and I had to add the twill because I needed to have a ribbon of some sort. I like it!

I will post a mini 3x3 card that I did to match this card since I stamped 2 of the elephant images.

I'm a lucky little girl

Wow! that's all I can say is wow!! I'm such a lucky little girl. This past week, I got some really thoughtful gifts. Here's a beautiful card and some Bath & Body works stuff from my sweet friend, Sherry. She was thanking me for the birthday card & sizzix die I sent over to her for her birthday. Now it's my turn to say THANK YOU!

Then, I got a box full of goodies from cousin Pam!! Pam bought for me the Stylized Flower CB embossing folder (and I didn't have it yet!), 3 rolls of ribbon (she must've spied on me as I was browsing at Michaels!), some digital scrapbooking programs and the most beautiful sterling silver heart necklace with Nolan's name on the heart. Here I had my soft friend, Piglet model the necklace for me. I totally LOVE this Pam!! Pam received the same necklace from her friend Lorraine and I thought this was the cutest piece of jewelry. If you want to check it out more, the company is called Heart On Your Wrist Unique Mommy Jewelry Thank you so much Pam! Love you! Thank you Alyssa, for my precious card!! I love it and you too!

Also in that wonderful box of goodies, was a gift from Ingrid. Ingrid is one of Pam's best friends and I was so happy to have met Ingrid while I was visiting Pam. We spent Memorial Day at Ingrid's house. She invited us to a BBQ and boy, is she a great cook! I learned to like drinking tea after dinner. Ingrid served the most mellow tea - Chrysanthemum tea...so soothing! It was so relaxing to drink tea and talk story. Anyway, Ingrid sent to me a book called "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. Ingrid, I've already started reading it on my bus ride home! She also included this beautiful card too! Lucky me!! Love the wonderful RAK's I got.

Speaking of RAKs...I'm so proud of myself that I sent my RAK out early! This is for the JT's monthly aloha RAK club. I will reveal my RAK card once the RAK is received. I won't spoil it!

Just a bit of info...know why I refer to myself as little?? I think I'm the smallest (or some might refer it to shortest) in our group of ladies. My son will soon be taller than me and he's only 12! haha!

Happy weekend everyone! Tomorrow night, we're going to the Manoa Valley Theater to see "Working" - it's a musical. Thanks to my friend Pearl for the certificate! My date is no other than my pal Wini...we're even going out to celebrate Wini's bday - a little belated but I'm looking forward to a relaxing night out!

Christmas in July!

I was hoping to do my Christmas in July class in July! At this class, we would make 50 Christmas cards using one simply scrappin' kit and one pack of whisper white 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock and red ribbon. Cool, huh! I still yet have to adapt all of the cards I made from the old SS holiday kit to the new SS kit called Winter Bright. I did, however, manage to make 57 cards from the retired Christmas SS kit that I was hoping was still going to be in the catty. Oh well, here's a sneak peek at what kind of cards I made.

This cool idea came about when I saw that SU demonstrator, Shari Caspers, whom I met during one of the demonstrations on the Panama Canal cruise, made 60 cards using the Today & Always SS kit and one pack of vanilla CS. Her cards were adorable! She also graciously emailed me her instructions on how to cut all of the pieces, but OMG, I tried and then I got frustrated because there were no photos for me to compare her notes with. So... I thought to myself that I should just try to "wing it" and use my creativity to make those cards. After the first few, I was on a roll and then kept rolling until I was out of ideas with the few stickers that were left. I love how they all turned out! I gotta say that when I first started making the cards, they looked too white like something was missing...I guess I'm so anal that I like to keep adding stuff to my card and forget how to keep it simple. After I was on that roll, I started getting used to the whiteness and now, I really love those cards!!

I've gotta work on the new set of 50 cards...class will still be moved to August for both customers and demonstrators :)

I've been living in the studio the last few weeks, putting as much time as possible into the new show... I don't have the internet there so I'm slacking with the blog as usual and going crazy as usual but heres a picture of a puppy climbing a tree!

I've been Tagged by Corinne!

It's been a while since I got tagged! This time, Corinne from Stamping with Roxy . Corinne has beautiful stamped cards and you gotta see her adorable lunch tin! Anyway, the tag is for me to reveal 7 things about me:

1. I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and lived in Waimanalo all my life
2. I love the color pink and yellow was my "before" favorite.
3. I never refuse chocolate or desserts.
4. I wish I still owned my little RX-7 sports car.
5. I love working in silence. If I have music on, it would have to be something soothing.
6. I could go clothes shopping all day! The same goes for shopping for stamps and scrapbook stuff.
7. I have the hardest time saying "no" to anyone who asks me to do something for them especially if it involves something crafty.

Hmm, I guess gotta keep this going, so I'm going to tag these 7 ladies:
Jen from Pieces of Me, Cheryl from Life is Sweet, Flossie from Flossie Goes Hi Tech, Jean from Stamping Spot Studio, Mo from Jus' Scrap and Jo from Jus' Scrap and Corie from Creations by Corie...We all want to know more about each other! Looking forward to seeing everyone's answers!

Winners of the last 2 tins...

Aloha ladies! Thank you all for playing for these 2 tins...what a yummy topic - candy! real candy, not blog candy. Well, I guess it's both! The winners are RONEE and SOPHIA! Ronee's favorite candy is Tomoe Ame (a rice candy that comes with a prize! and Sophia's favorite candy was Dove Dark Chocolate... Congrats ladies! As an additional surprise, I'm going to send you your favorite candy with your blog candy :) Okay, don't forget to email me your snail mail address so I can send these treats out to you! My email is tsuzuki_2005@yahoo.com Thanks for playing!

Come back and visit soon! I'll be giving away a great prize package for my 2500 hits! - almost there!!

Running out of tins to decorate

Well, my supply is finally depleting! Can you believe that I had these tins in my cabinet since Christmas? I've had a handful of you ladies email me to ask me where I got these tins and the chains from. I got the tins from J's Knicknacks and those cute chains came from Stamps & Memories in Aiea. I bought them at the only Scrapper's Jam I attended. I had other grand plans for them but I'm glad those plans fell through. I guess they say that when you're ready to use the supplies, you'll know. Since it's been a while that I bought these items, I'm really not sure if they're still in stock...cheryl?? Anyway, here's a tin I made for my bank teller, Wanida...she told me that her birthday was June 10th, obviously I missed it. So, I made a special tin using my CTMH kitty stamp. Made a cute "bird day" card using SU's pocket notes and stamps by Hero Arts. Happy Belated Birthday, Wanida! TFL! Time to sign off. I came home from work today with a fever so took an advil and took a nap. I guess I better get going and go to bed before I get worse. Okay, okay, I'm signing off!!!

Another RAK from Jen!!

Wow! Am I lucky or what?? Got this little surprise in my package from Jen. Actually, everything was a surprise in that package because she made me a copy of some soothing music cuz I'm always so stressed out! Here's a pic of my cute girlie tag using the MAMBI sizzix dies and the dies that I bought and never used.

Revealing the tins!!

I was really on a roll making these tins for the gals who played for candy. Here are pics of the tins - I'm not telling who got what mostly because I don't remember! haha! Gave Cheryl hers yesterday at the open house, she got the glamourous bella tin! I only have a few more tins left in my stash, they were fun and easy to make! I'm making one for Wanida for her birthday - sorry, it's a belated bday gift because she only told me the other week that I missed her bday. Wanida is one of my tellers at the Hawaii State FCU...I will post a pic of that tin when I'm done. I'm using the kitty stamp set from CTMH that I got from sister Jean. Hope you're all having a fabulous Sunday!!