Happy Friday!

Aloha Friday friends!! I always love the end of the week. It's the start of the fun 2 days off from real work!! Can you believe that it's already August?? Where has the time gone?? Today is my birthday! I always dread my birthday because I hate the thought of growing old. Oh well, like it or not. Nothing special in the works, but I'm just glad today looks like a beautiful day!
I wanted to share this cute card I made using one of my favorite Whipper Snapper stamps!! If you like this stamp, be sure you stop over at Jen's online Little C's store to order this...I was the lucky gal who received it from my girlfriend, Jodi...check out Jodi's blog HERE! Stop by to give her a hug!

I wanted to share some photos that I took in the garden the other week...love this color rose. Dad had over 100 rose plants at one time.

We grew up with the whole yard having orchids. What a beautiful spray of orchids.
Dad's pride a joy is his veggie garden. Here's a patch of Manoa lettuce, yummy salad!!
Here are a few shots of the beach on our way home the other day. This is the view we see everytime we drive home the Makapuu route...beautiful and lucky to live in Hawaii! This is Makapuu beach.
Here's a shot of "Rabbit Island"...doesn't it look like a rabbit profile?

Gotta get off and run for the bus! Happy Friday everyone and thanks for stopping in today!!

Happy Mail!

I've always wanted to make this card using the carousel notes, which was in our last mini catty...so I was thrilled when I received this card from Christina Carl...Thank you, Christina! I just love it! The color combo is perfect too! Got this cutie of a card from Joy Tamura - Hi Joy! Joy used the Girls of the World images we snagged from Allison. What a sweet card!


Here's a card I received from Angie Lilavois. Hey Angie, did you see my birthday coming up through Jen's birthday club?? Wow! What an early surprise! Thank you so much!


Finally, I got this beauty from Michelle Ueligitone. This is so pretty IRL! I love the paper piecing on this card. Thanks Michelle! Check out Michelle's blog called Mushi's Creative Inspirations HERE.

Thanks to all of you who made my mailbox smile!! Happy Thursday!!

Cards for Matthew, a wounded soldier, won't you send one?

Happy Wednesday! I'm a little late in posting today. I took a day off from work to spend it with Nolan and Eric. We ended up going to the BODIES exhibit. The exhibit displays real human bodies so I thought it would be gross, but when my co-worker, Kristen told me that her niece went and said it was very interesting, I knew it was something that Nolan would enjoy. It was really well displayed with alot of neat information posted on the display cases as well as on the walls by the displays. Although it was a little pricey ($26/adult) we were able to pay "Kama'aina" rates, which was only $3 less but $23/adult and $18 for Nolan. It was really worth it and so educational. This display will be shown until January, so for you local peeps here, if you get a chance, go check it out!

I got an email from Gina Wrona, asking for cards for a wounded marine. Debbi (no "e" at the end) is coordinating collecting and mailing cards for Matthew who was wounded in combat. Here's the card I sent over to Debbi for Matthew to cheer him up! If you have a moment and would like to share some of your "Aloha", send a card to Matthew, won't you?? Here's the link to Debbi's post about Matthew

Mahalo and aloha!

Little C's Aloha Weekly Challenge #2

Good Tuesday morning!! Today is the day for Little C's Aloha Weekly Challenge #2!! Here's a sketch by Julie Tilman that we followed for the challenge. Don't forget to check out Julies blog called poeticartistry.

The image I used is a cute mouse from Whipper Snapper. They have such great images, don't you think?? Anyway, if you love this and whipper snapper stamps in general, you can get them right at your fingertips! Just log onto the Little C's store right HERE!!
Here's a closer look at the details.

Don't forget to go and check out what the Little C's DT created for this sketch!
Don't forget, if you'd like to participate in this week's challenge, check out all of the details on Jen's blog HERE!
Supplies:
Stamp image - Whipper Snapper - Heart Strawberry N' Mouse, Wishes (SU Fundamental Phrases
CS - Really rust, Wild Wasabi, very vanilla, chocolate chip
DSP - sorry! I don't remember !!
Accessories - texture ribbon - old olive (SU), silver mini brads (SU), photo corner punch (SU), 1 3/8" circle punch (SU), rhinestones
All coloring done using copic markers and blender
Thanks for dropping in today!! I'll be back tomorrow with more to share! Had a really busy weekend, a wonderful class making the cool star book. I am working on a tutorial for that, so stay tuned!

I love it!!

Just wanted to send a BIG HUG AND SMOOCH to JEN for the awesome banner she surprised me with. Do you love it?? I sure do! Thanks, Dahling! It was really a BIG surprise for me. According to Jen, she re-worked some of the details on her blog and wanted to "hi-jack" someone's blog too...I was the lucky gal!! I am speechless and all I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love the image and the pretty pink background!!

If you love what Jen did to both of blogs, why don't you run on over to her blog PIECES OF ME now and leave a tip (just for fun and it's non-monetary too!) in her cute lil' tip jar...(that's such a cute idea!!)..

Your help is need for Keiki Cards!!


Got an email from my friend, Joni, (Hi Joni!) about Keiki cards. Have you heard of Keiki Cards? Well, Keiki Cards is a Honolulu based company that sends handmade cards out to sick children throughout the entire USA. Unfortunately, the owner of Keiki Cards recently announced their soon to be shutting down of their operation due to lack of funding. They'd like to continue as long as they can since they have an abundance of cards. What they need most are postage stamps and monetary donations (to send out the cards that they do have). Therefore - if you would like to help with postage stamps or monetary donations, please click here to make an online donation, or if you'd rather mail in a donation, please send to: Keiki Cards PMB 5-532 4224 Waialae Ave. Honolulu, HI 96816
Let's extend the length of this organization as LOOOONG as possible, so that we can continue to bring smiles to children's faces and warmth within their hearts! (With just a $5 donation, Amber and her crew will be able to send out 11 standard sized cards!!!) - that is a whole lot of families that you and I will be able to send a little bit of Aloha to. Think about it - we spend hundreds of dollars to create and send to those that we want to touch the lives of....this is a totally perfect way to just do that. I'm collecting postage stamps from a few friends here to mail in!

Mahalo for reading this post!!

Love this Lion!

I wanted to do a quick post this morning before I set up for class today. I got this super cute card in the mail from Joy. I just love this lion! It's a sizzix die - hmm, do I need this one too?? The details on this card is awesome...CB embossing folder - swiss dots, hand stamped flowers for the background of the saffron CS and the embellishment, love the bling!! Joy's work is always amazing and I'm glad she FINALLY decided to start her own blog. It's called A Place to Be Me...check it out HERE Joy, thank you for thinking of me. It's been a long time but I'm glad I was not forgotten. Welcome to blogland, looking forward to seeing more of your awesome creations!!!

The first time for me

I've never used these laminate type of samples that you can pick up for free at the hardware store. I got a few pieces of these cool laminate pieces from Mary Bennett who sent me a rak from JT's Aloha Monthly Rak Club... I used Staz-on jet black ink and inked up my flourish stamp from the Baroque Motifs set. Then I used More Mustard ink for the flower. Had to add some stickles glitter and a "bling" in the middle. Finished it up using black organdy ribbon and the hole is already punched out on the sample. Pretty cool.
The designer paper, is more like cloth. Is this a sample too Mary? I've never used these materials to make a card before so it was interesting! I wanted to add a sentiment, but wasn't sure what kind of ink to use and where to stamp it, so I left it blank. I can always add it on later.

I hope you all don't mind that I share these crazy pics of my kitty, the Queen of the house...for some reason, she loves to lick the condensation off of my iced water glass. She goes crazy when she hears me fill my glass with ice and water. I have to tell her to wait because it's "not ready" yet. Wonder if she understands?? Anyway, this is what she does every night when the cup is "ready" for her licking pleasure...wierd, yeah? She can stand on her two hind legs for quite a long time and sometimes even walks a few steps. My dad is holding my glass for me so I could take the photo.

After she's all done, she took this position. Another wierd thing, but growing up with cats, my sisters and I call this position "bug". Maybe because she's round like a beetle on all fours?
Anyhoo, Happy Friday!! Another Friday is here! I'm still putting the finishing touches on my kits for Sunday's class...nine people in attendance, it's gonna be cozy :) Hope you have a wonderful day!!

July RAK from Adrienne!

I love Raking...once a month works for me and occasional raking to all my favorite gals out there is fun too. This month, through JT's Aloha monthly RAK club, my rak was from Adrienne. Lookie what I got! A beautiful card that fit in a #10 size envelope and images from Heidi Grace. Cool! I don't own any Heidi Grace images, so this was exciting for me. Thanks, Adrienne! Be sure to stop by Adrienne's blog Scrappin' with Adrienne and tell her hello! (Hi Adrienne!!) I love looking at those scrapbook sketches, so inspiring!

Here's what I created with the stuff I got from Adrienne!
The images were already embossed, love it! I used my circle punch to punch out the cute ladybut and used red stickles to make it sparkle. Thought the rainbow organdy ribbon added some character to it and also my CB swirly folder to texturize the background.
Here's a close up of the ladybug and sentiment.
Have a great Thursday! Tomorrow, I'll post a card with stuff I received from last month's rak from Mary Bennett.

19

Yesterday was our 19th wedding anniversary! Only thing was we didn't get to celebrate it at all. By the time I come home from work, Eric is on his way to work so I guess we'll just have to celebrate on the weekend.

Here's the card I made for him. Are you laughing? or are you wondering why the heck did I use the changito monkeys?? Well, I was trying to not be too serious. After 19 years, you have to take time to have some fun, ya know? I thought this was cute and playful and who would've thought this image would make a good anniversary card! haha!! I actually gave this to Eric for our anniversary. He hasn't said anything to me yet because he's still asleep. Enjoy your Wednesday! The weekend will be here before you know it! By the way, if you want to get your hands on this cute Changito monkey image called Amigos, buy it NOW at Little C's! Jen's online store is located on my sidebar, check it out!

Monkey's Paw

Its been awhile since my last update, I've just been working away on my upcoming show, working away on the comic and doing some other miscellaneous pieces... This friday at my favourite bookstore in the city, The Monkey's Paw, I'll be showing some of those miscellaneous pieces... A bunch of us designed shelf labels for the store, nothing too insane, but they were a lot of fun to make and I'm looking forward to the reception... Come by, look at some reaaaaally small drawings, browse through the stock of old, rare, and bizarre books...

Below is the press release and scans of what I drew...

Also, another update is coming soon, it will have some more drawings, new comic stuff, photos of piles of firewood that I chopped at my parent's cabin... Also, I just decided that I'm moving to New York in September for four months to work on the center piece of my upcoming show... I'll be there all autumn, if anyone wants to meet up or see the studio or whatever, email me cause I imagine I'll be a bit on the lonely side while I'm there...

Ok, here is the press release, I hope everything that I wrote makes sense, I just woke up a few minutes ago and my brain is still in idle...

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13 NOTABLE ARTISTS CREATE WORDLESS SIGNAGE FOR PECULIAR BOOKSHOP
July 23 - August 10
Reception: Friday, July 25, 5-9 p.m.

Next week, Toronto's most idiosyncratic secondhand bookshop hosts an unprecedented site-specific group art show: the Monkey's Paw Section Label Project.

Responding visually to the cultural content of an entire bookstore, 13 Toronto artists have created (very small) section labels for all 52 subject categories throughout the Monkey's Paw. Their work will be mounted on our shelves and on view from July 23 to August 10. A public reception will be held at the shop on Friday, July 25, from 5 to 9 p.m.
THE ARTISTS
All participants are regular visitors to the Monkey's Paw, and bring to the project first-hand knowledge of the shop's aesthetic and cultural bent. In style, they range from literalist illustrators to austere conceptualists; but all share a demonstrated fondness for whimsy, pathos, and subversion. They are:
Stephen Appleby-Barr
Katie Bethune-Leamen
Diane Borsato
Shary Boyle
Nicole Collins
Nicholas Di Genova
Kristan Horton
Michael Maranda
Olia Mishchenko
Jenn Murphy
Lauchie Reid
Derek Sullivan
Jacob Whibley
THE PROJECT
The Monkey's Paw differs from other bookshops in a number of ways, not least in its imaginative organization and complete lack of signage. Although the books on the shelves are carefully arranged by subject, the shelves themselves are not usually labelled. Nothing interrupts the organic flow of one section into the next, so browsing becomes an act of exploration and discovery: "bookshop as narrative."

The Section Label Project sets out to interpret, or re-interpret, that narrative. These thoughtful works add new dimensions of significance and mystery, and deepen the complexity of the relationship among books, browsers, and environment. They look damned cool, too.

All 52 section labels are available for purchase at a uniform price of $150 apiece. In addition, the Monkey's Paw is publishing a full-colour Section Label Project catalogue in the form of a limited-edition poster/shelf map. Both the original artwork and the catalogue will be offered for sale beginning Wednesday, July 23. We hope you can join us for this uncommon event

We remain,

The Monkey's Paw
1229 Dundas St. West
Toronto

416.531.2123

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Ok, here are the tags...sorry the scan is so bad, but it does get bigger if you click it...

Little C's Aloha weekly challenge #1

I am so honored to be a part of Jen's weekly challenge called "Little C's Aloha Weekly Challenge". Each Tuesday, Jen will post her weekly challenge on her blog Pieces of Me , whether it be a sketch layout, color combo, stamp company, etc. as her challenge for that week. The challenge starts on Tuesday and ends on Sunday when Jen will use random.org to select a winner of a little goodie (she has awesome goodies!). So here we go!

Here is the challenge of week #1. We used a sketch designed by Maria Bell. What a fun sketch design!

I had been wanting to scrap this page of Mochiko with her "chicken" for the longest time and as soon as I saw this sketch, I knew it was the one I wanted to use for my page.

I used this cute cat themed paper that I bought from J's Knicknacks. I think the company is DCWV (die cut with a view). I just love this paper, it was thick and colorful and had glitter on it too! I also used designer paper from The Angel Company (TAC), Bazzill (rust, red and green) and SU (pumpkin pie) cardstock. I had so much fun creating this page.

Here's a close-up of my "chicken". I used this sizzix chick die that I bought a long time ago; I just love it! This computer font is called "snap" and is one of my favorite fonts. Also used my rectangle nestibilities dies here.

Can you see my fun sugar coated brads by Doodlebug Designs? So many colors to choose from! I selected the color Limeade here. To make the brads stand out, I centered them (the best I could) on a 1/2" circle using summer sun CS.
Miscellaneous accessories: SU photo corner punch, silver mini brads and paw print chipboard.

Here are more samples created by other ladies of Aloha:

Jen - Pieces of Me


Jean - Stamping Spot Studio

Maria - Stampin Inspirations

To participate in this week's challenge, hop on over to Jen's blog for all the details!

Thanks for visiting me today! I look forward to seeing all of your creations for this week's challenge!

My third girl

Are we getting tired of seeing my girls of the world creations?? Don't worry, this is the last one for now :) These images were so cute, I just had to make a few of them at once. Here's my #3 girl. I just love the possibilities for color combos here. I decided to use colors that I normally don't use together and it turned out pretty good.
Green galore with a DSP from SU that has been long retired (still using stuff from my paper fetish stash!). BTW, after I connected the cardstock and the DSP, I ran the whole piece through my Big shot with my CB embossing folder. I don't even know what the name of this folder is called. I wish they would have the name somewhere on the folder!

Here's a close-up so you can catch a glimpse of the stickles that made her outfit so shiny!

Supplies:
Cardstock - green galore, pink passion
DSP - SU, name unknown (because I don't remember!!!) :(
Image: Girls of the World
Accessories: SU Large and small oval punch, white gel pen, regal rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, stickles
Stamp set: Fundamental Phrases (Hello)
Ink: Green galore pad, only orange & green galore markers

Hope you enjoyed your visit today. I wanted to post this earlier, but ran out of time this morning before I dashed out of the house!

Another girl of the world

Short post today. Here's another image from the Girls of the World series that I got online via tip from Allison. I always think it's funny when I do a winter card with snow and snowman because living in Hawaii, snow is not an option except for the Mauna Kea on the Big Island. If you know me personally, you know that I have a fetish for snowman! Here's my card today. Sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas and I just had to have it when I saw everyone using it last winter. I embellished the card with the SU snowman punch which is now retired and the half pearls from my Pretties kit. CB embossing folder fit right in too!

Mochiko says she's a worldly girl too...wonder what country she's from??

Happy Sunday! See you all tomorrow. Gotta get outside for my class in 30 minutes!

I just had to share early

a sneak peek of the star book that we'll be making this month. My sample here used Soft Sky prints pattern paper and blue bayou cardstock, but both colors will be retiring at the end of this month :( For the class, we will be using the Old Olive prints pattern paper (with the exception of tomorrow's class, we'll be using Porcelain Prints).
Here's what the book looks like when it is opened and the ends tied together to form the star shape (can you see it?) I know it looks complicated, but it really isn't. I think it took me longer to embellish the book than putting it together. I will reveal the individual pages at the end of the month when the classes are all done. I am also in the process of preparing a tutorial for this project, mainly for the gals who purchased kits but can't come t the class, but it will be posted some time in the near future!

For those of you who signed up for this class, I'll see you either tomorrow, the 20th or on the 27th. Be sure you bring your tool kit and either a scor- pal if you have one, or a cutter with a scoring blade. That would really help move the class along. Also, if you own a coluzzle circle shape and a foam mat, that would be helpful too.

It's a beautiful day in Paradise. It rained all night though. I can see the sun shining and everything outside looks so happy! Thanks for peeking in today!

Finally! Girl's of the World

I finally made some time to complete my Girl's of the World cards. I downloaded these cutie images off the internet through a link that Allison posted on her blog a while back, yeah, I know, a long way while back! I work slow...I just love these images and just couldn't wait to make cards with them. If you would like to download these images, here's the link through Allison's blog - GIRLS I will post more girls in the days to follow...

Here's the first card that I made. I spent some time trying to look up a good sentiment to put on this card, I thought "Konnichiwa!" (Hello, good afternoon) was good, and then I thought of "Otomodachi" (friend) was appropriate and then it hit me, this was not a Japanese girl, but a Chinese one?? By then, I gave up, haha! the joke was on me! I decided to just use "Hello" ...
The DS paper is from my scrap pile and is a SU paper, now retired and long gone. So long gone, I forgot the name (sorry). I really need to use more of my Hodgepodge Hardware cuz I have tons! This hardware really added to the card (to me).
Always try to add some bling. Bling always makes things look good, don't you think??
Supplies:
DS paper - SU
Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Old Olive, Whisper White, Real Red
Punch - from the Three for You set
Rhinestones (bought from Ben Franklin Crafts)
Silver Hodgepodge hardware
Hello stamp from Fundamental Phrases stamp set (SU)
Red gingham ribbon (SU)
Image from internet

Good news. Doctor appointment yesterday (after a loooonnnggg wait!) and doc says I am just badly bruised up and there's alot of swelling. Recommended me taking Aleve to bring the inflammation down and to rest. I'm at home today resting. Okay, so I took a blog break! Check back with doc in 2 weeks to see the progress. Aleve makes me dopey/sleepy, I took a nap yesterday..."gasp!" yup, took a nap. I NEVER take naps! Thanks to those who emailed me with kind thoughts, meant alot to me! XOXO...
Happy Aloha Friday everyone! Hope your weekend is a fun one!

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