Hermelinda's birdcage RAK

I was leaving out of town and met up with Hermelinda on the way out of town and she surprised me with the most delicate and  beautiful thing ever.  It is a birdcage made out of 4 birdcage diecuts , lined with soft pink vellum paper with the bird and stem from Bird Builder punch on each of the sides with soft green and blue vellum and decorated on the top with this gorgeous flower in the same soft pink vellum and leaves made from the bird punch in the green and a butterfly on the other side in blue, all tied together holding a beautiful little key.  She even had it so that one of the sides without the bird would open by sliding the string with the key- genius!   I held it all the way afraid it will get crushed and then had to fight the kids clamoring to get the candies inside until I could at least take a picture of it.  I had it hanging from the lamp arm at my hotel for the whole trip just admiring it. I think it embodies why I love this craft so much.  Creativity at its finest.   The colors are absolutely gorgeous.  I keep saying this to her but seriously, you are amazing and I am honored that you have chosen to be my friend.   I think you need to start a blog to show all your creative works!!!!

Merry Christmas RAK

This was a little gift I got from one of our new stampin friends, Hermelinda.  She found me on line and has been coming to my stamping parties and when I saw what she has been creating, she blew me away!
Every month she has been bringing a little treat and I thought this was so cute I had to share with you.- I hope she would not mind.  My kids have been poking out the candy so I'm glad I got a picture of it before it disappeared!

Merry Christmas!

Darling RAK from Sachi

Sachi showed my a darling card last we met and I went nuts over it. It is just so ME! I loved the colors, the silouette , the little bling in the belt- what's not to like?

Seeing how I went nuts over it, she dropped me off this sample for me- is she not sweet?

I loved this. she said the pink paper is from M*chaels.













The card is white folded over like this.

The belt is a velvet ribbonwraooed around the front face of the card as shown with the bling bling belt!

The flower is punched with a velvet center. so very Vogue! A pair of sunglasses and she is ready to paint the town pink!

Thank you Sachi!

I LOVE it!

Lynda

Makani's chain gang Halloween

Another card Makani made during our little stint was this one- We just LOVE Halloween! funny though- as many cards as I make for Halloween, none of them seem to ever leave my home! She xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

made the base card in lilac, then layered a DSP. She punched the MS halloween fence then cut out all the dillibobbers on top and the bat wings from the bottom to create a clean lined fence ( I thought maybe the guys should be behind the bars but it did not look as good- I am playing with a owl behind bars ideas as well so come back soon to check it out as soon as I get it done! ) She die cut the tag from Cuttleb*g in black and used this awesome white marker to letter it in and then diecut another in orange and colored it in with Cop*cs to layer on the pumpkin.

Stamped the jailbirds in white and colored them in as well before cutting them out and mounting them on the card using dimensionals.

These guys crack me up 'cuz they remind me of my 3 little rascals.

Well, you know what they say- If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun!
Raise some ruckus this long weekend!

Lynda

Makani's spider card- embossing plastic packaging

Recycling should be my middle name. I have been one of those fanatical recyclers even cutting out the windows of envelopes to recycle the paper even before recycling was mandatory. Part of it was to save the environment for our future and part of it being frugal- there are such cool envelope liners, beautiful papers in advertisements, wonderful packagings.

Punches and embossing folders are reusable tools that make any paper something special. when I got some new embossing folders, they came with perfect clear plastic covers it would be really cool to emboss it and repurpose it. I mentioned this to Makani on one of our play dates and she embossed the spider web folder. It was too clear so she added some ink to make it pop out, stamped a retired SU background of spiders and diecut a really spooky spider and layered it with crystal effects to add a sheen. dangled a black hemp twine (reetired SU) and put it all together to create this creepy crawly card.

Here is the detail of the spider web. The embossing makes it kind of bow out making it more 3D which is kind of cool as well.

Here is the detail on the spider. This would be really creepy to find this on my wall or bed......Yecch!

Now, imagine this technique using bubble type design embossing folders on acetate like this to create water scene to put fish behind it to make an aquarium or something. I think it would be so COOL! I know you all have zillion clear plastic packaging that you are all tossing into the landfill. take some of it out and use it creatively!

Happy recycling!

Lynda

Makani's Wizard and my Wizard Owl

My friend Makani called to see if I had time to play and I had so much fun last week, I just had to say yes! Besides ME having a ball (totally selfish- I know) , she bring over her teenage son who patiently plays with my kids who just ADORE him. My DH gets out of watching the kids and the whole family is happy happy. But through all this I did 2 loads of laundry, gave the kids all a bath and got the little ones to sleep on time- Makani was probably wondering why it takes so long to get a inkpad from a room down the hall though each time I disappear.



Look at this card- is it not just darling? She layers this -I believe- Imaginesce paper that is such hoot with the glittering owls on it and layered it over lovely lilac CS. She stamped the wizard from LaLa Land Cr*fts- I love the little owl on the top of the staff. She colored it with cop*cs and cut it out. She then layered some grass and the new Halloween fence punched from MS using dimensionals to lift it up and it is a really cool card.



She then stamped a few wizards for me so I could make some cards in the future and of course the owl lady in me came out. I mean look at that hat and the outfit! Would it not be the perfect size for my owl?

So I cut the hat, gown and the staff and colored it in using her exact color palette- why invent the wheel when it has been so conveniently done for you?

But the wizard just looked a bit lonely. She had also brought over some Cuttleb*g Mickey Mouse dies for the halloween and it had a broom and the summer beach one had the buckets and my little twisted mind kept crawling back to the sorcerer's apprentice idea so I had to try it. I am not sure how it worked but it is slowly growing on me. The broom was cut out 3 times and the bucket twice (I was trying to do 3 different brooms but they got too busy on the card). Cut 2 extra brooms to make arms for the first broom guy and I used Cop*cs to color in the raised ares to add some texture. Makani sat there and die cut and embossed all these pieces for me so this is a total collaboration card!) I stamped 4th of July (summer mini SU- gone at the end of this month! ) and embossed it in silver EP after stamping with versamark pad. Used some liquid appl*que (same white as I used yesterday on my ski bunny) and colored it with my B32 Cop*c (my favorite for sky and soft blue) to make it look more like water sloshing around and dribbling on the floor.

The owl was punched in crumbcake and the wing from the bird punch in same. Cut out the wizard outfit from the above and cut a slit in the arm to slide the wing in. I raised the whole thing on a couple of dimensionals to really make it pop out because it just seem to need the dimension.

I think I need to fix the nose though looking at it from here.

Here is the detail on the bewitched broom!

May your weekend be Magical!

Lynda

More Margery's Owls- using wings from the bird punch

You saw the card my friend Margery made for her mom and dad's anniversary last week but these are 2 more she made which I thought were clever and different than anything I saw from anyone. She used the wings from the two step extra large bird punch add some extra movement into these owls which I thought darling/ Above one saying HI would be really cute and on this one she put double wings. The branch with leaves are from the bird punchset as well. The tree I believe was free hand cut.

I am so blessed to have really wonderfully talented people in my life. Thanks Margery for sharing your creations with us!

Lynda

Patti Lee and her amazing creations

I am fortunate to be in a group of demonstrators with amazing stamping talent. One of my sidelines Elizabeth Price just received the artisan award for this year and we have know for years how talented she really is- Another real gem is Patti Lee. She is here on the left with Deidre, my surrogate sister stamper on the right from a recent demonstrator get together. Are they not the cutest? She has the most amazing creations and she is my inspiration for all things Asian. I don't know where she finds some of the things she does but I have found wonderful little asian stamps and companies from her work she has done in the past before Stampin Up put a moratorium on promotoing other company products- but she will email you info about the things she uses if you ask her- she is just that sweet. This is one of the projects she created that I recreated for my workshops- which I loved- it just takes 3 1/2 inch x 6 1/2 piece of designer paper and a 8 1/2 by 5/8 inch strip for the handle and 2 pieces of 1 x 2 3/4 strips for the sides. I had to change the instructions a bit to make it work for the my workshop but still really darling. The flower is made from floral fusion and teh leaves from little leaves sizzlets dies.

Added a piece of silver brad in teh center and a peice of velcro in the center for closure and a darling little bag that fits bunch of kisses or nuggets. You can easily make 4 bags out of 1 piece of 8 1/2x 11 DSP and 1/2 sheet of a coordinating solid color. Cute and economical- what a combo! Love that newsprint DSP- used it all up for this project at my workshop so will have to order some more!

Thanks for sharing Patti!

Lynda

Margery's Owl surprise

My friend Margery came by to show me some real WOW owl cards yesterday and I had to share it with you- with her permission of course. She took the bridal couple idea and gave flight by adding wings using the wings from the bird punch. She is

absolutely adorable and so is the card!

The gems on the necklace and the sentiment makes it just sparkle more. The vest on the groom I am told is silk paper. It is just so cute in real life I just couldn't wait to share it with you all!

Thank you Margery for sharing this with us!

Lynda

More samples by Sachi- Easter Chick and Fish

She told me she cased these from some people on the internet- the easter chicks from Ann's creative moments- they were just so cute I had to share them with you.

Really creative use of the punches - so much fun - this one looks like large oval and scallop border punch, 5 sided flower and circle punche for the waves and the red hearts to boot- just darling!

Let's see what you can do with your punches!

Another Sachi Card

The clean and simple lines that personify her style comes out on this card that Sachi shared with me. Now I have to run and make some myself , it is so pretty!

Thanks Sachi!

Sachi's graduation card

Is this not the coolest or what?

This is another card that my talented friend Sachi made for a new grad in colors of her school. She got flowers from M's and de-stemmed them to make the lei. Gorgeous!

Sachi's Samples and my real reason for workshops

I have a workshop every month with a few core of friends and others that come and go and after every workshop they say-"thank you for having us over, it must be so much work for you, thanks for doing all this, etc etc." but the truth is that I do this for ME.


I get so energized by their excitement and creativity that I feel that I lose my moho without their enthusiasm.



Wanting to show them all the new techniques and things going around makes me a better stamper and keeps me excited about what I am doing.

One of the dearest friends in my group is Sachi. She brought a bunch of things she made and CASED from different places and I just loved it and she gave me persmission to share them with you - This is a little box with the scallop flower on top with ribbon that wraps around to hold the box together. I love the chocolate corduroy brad in the center of the yellow flower with the brown polka dot- so cheery and sweet - just like Sachi herself!

Happy Monday!

Lynda

My mom's card

My mom who lives in Florida, is an avid crafter and she called me one day and said that she wanted to see if I could find her this stamp with a butterfly in the middle of a box from Stampin' Up- I knew exactly what she meant because it was one of my favorites from the past-Ageless Adornments! I said. I searched high and low all over my room but alas! I could not find it. I was REALLY distressed. Even with all my "crap" I usually know where everything is for the most part. But I could not find it. I had NO idea what happened to it and felt really bad that I lost it somehow.

So when one of the local stores were having a used stamp sale I was on a mission and you know what? they happened to have this set on sale used and I snatched it up. I called her and told her of my great happiness at having found this set and held it for her to give her at her visit.

So here she comes and unpacks her suitcase and I am so excited to give her the set and she says- "you know I found it after I called you- I guess you let me borrow it!"

And this is the card she made for me from the set- It is so pretty I can ALMOST forgive her for putting me through the stampin' wringer all that time.

At least I have my own set back now....

Lynda

RAK from Makani

I got this adorable card from my stamping addiction enabler and Amuse guru Makani. I love the images and she used copic to color it in- so cute! I love the little gray shadows under the penguins.




My favorite part was the inside- there was more surprise. I love how she carried the theme to the inside- Images are from Cat's Pajamas-her other favorite stamp company- she just started her own blog here at: http://aloha-makani.blogspot.com/
You go girl! hugs to you too!

Mom's cards

People have asked my how I got interested in doing crafts. Honestly the person who started all this is my mom- she is really crafty- she crocheted entire bedspreads -some from thicker yarn but some from lace-like ones- she made much of my clothes when I was growing up- out of necessity mostly but still no small feat- trying to raise 4 children and work outside the home trying to support the family-

I showed her some Japanese dolls I was working on for some of my asian cards and this is what she sent me- the student just blew the teacher away- my cards were like these figures just standing under a stamped tree- and she took vellum and made a parasol with punched flowers on it and changed the girl some too- Isn't she adorable?




















I also gave her some embossing plates and origami paper and this is what she sent me- I tell you she just floors me- If only she did not live on the other side of the continent in Florida, where every senior east of Mississipi river seems to retire to, imagine what the two of us could do together.... sigh.