Sigh...

Due to the tsunami threat yesterday, I was stuck at home with nowhere to go or be. Bliss, I tell you. I created cards the entire day. I experimented with colors and really tried to step or at least dip my toes outside my comfort zone. Here are my efforts.

 

I tried Smokey Shadow ink for the first time. Not sure if I love it yet. I'm trying to design a thank you card for the swap at school, but I'm getting nothing. Grrrr. Thank goodness I have until March 22.  The colors are growing on me.

The second card was made after I explored Baby Button Bits a bit more. A friend just had her baby, and her favorite color is purple. She named her baby Brynna, so I thought the bee with the sentiment would be more appropriate than the card I made for the Poppy Seed challenge. "welcome, little baby bee." Get it? "Baby B." 

I continued the button theme inside. I ended up being pretty pleased with this one.












Card 1
Stamps used: Damask Designs
Paper: Pretty Pastels (PTI), Kraft (PTI)
Punches: Marvy Oval and Scallop Oval, Fiskars Treading Water Border Punch

Card 2
Stamps used: Baby Button Bits
Paper: Plum Pudding Cardstock (PTI), Vintage Cream Cardstock (PTI)
Buttons: Plum Pudding (PTI)

Poppy Seed Challenge #1

 

I saw Lisa Johnson's challenge on the PTI forum and decided to stretch myself and go for it. Boy, am I glad I did. I got to break in the Baby Button Bits. I also decided to use this card for a friend who gave birth yesterday. 

I used a dark chocolate base and stamped my image on PTI's Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I used SU's chocolate chip ink and PTI's orange zest buttons. I matted that with PTI's lemon tart cardstock. Then, I cut a butterfly using PTI's new dies out of lemon tart. I added three jewels down the middle of the butterfly.

This is the inside of the card.

 

Cardstock: PTI
Stamps: PTI's Baby Button Bits and Daily Designs Sentiments (sweet baby)
Buttons: PTI's orange zest

PTI Blog Hop

 I'm participating in my first ever PTI blog hop, and it's soooo exciting.

My first card was inspired by this card by Maile Belles.

 

I love the colors she used. I also liked the stark contrast of the polka dots. The design is so clean.

 

I wanted to use both of the main images in the set, so stamped the button jar in black for the background. I colored the ribbon image with Copics and popped it up, which is really difficult to see because of my horrible photography. I used a raspberry fizz button, and the "Thank You, Crafty Friend!" sentiment. 

My second card was inspired by Niki Estes and her use of butterfly dreams. I loved the way she used Background Basics: Text Style II behind the Butterfly Dreams background. I thought layering 2 background stamps was really cool!

 

My card doesn't look distressed the way hers does because...well, because I'm chicken and my inking edges NEVER comes out the way it's supposed to.  I used vintage cream as my base and added kraft and some raspberry fizz. I stamped the butterfly and colored it in with Copics. At the very last minute, I added some crocheted ribbon at the bottom to give it some texture. I'm still not really sure I like ALL that white space at the top of my card, but when I tried buttons, it looked off. So white it will stay.

LOAD DAY 22, 23, and 24

 

My budding artist. She said to me the other day, "Um, mom? I think I'm gonna be an author AND an illustrator." Okay, little one. Dream big!

 

 

Ignore the belly flab and the blurry picture. I might give this one to my dad and put it in a frame. 

 

These pictures were taken on our last family outing to Chinatown. I love that place. Yes, that's a dead chicken in the last picture. 

Dots and Spots, Butterfly Dreams, and Studio Style

Here are three cards I made with my new goodies. I love PTI!

  

All supplies PTI except for black ink, which is Memento.

PTI Dot Spot

I am loving PTI's Dot Spot. Yes, it does make my eyes a little wonky after a while, but it's such a fun stamp to use for a background. Three cards later, I'm even more in love. I used it with black ink on PTI's Kraft and PTI's white. It was so striking on the white.

I also finally figured out how to use the dies with the Sidekick. It took 6 pieces of cardstock and a layer of fun foam before I saw any cutting action. But cut it did. I had beautiful frames and butterflies cut out with the swirl of my wrist. Yay!

I used my Raspberry Fizz copics to color the butterflies...

Pictures to come tomorrow, when there's more light.

CPS- Sketch 155

Totally had fun with this card.

Cardstock: PTI dark chocolate
PP: Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg
Stamps: Hero Arts "Sweet Wonderful You"
Markers: Copics
Flowers: Prima
Button: PTI dark chocolate
Ribbon: American Crafts

LOAD DAY 21

 

Journaling speaks for itself.

Yay for a Clean Craft Room

Yay! The hubs asked me this morning if I could please pick up the floor in the kids' bedroom and the "office," which is really my craft room, so he could vacuum. I was tempted to tell him to skip the office, but I shed like crazy, so I thought, "What better inspiration to clean up the room..." And half an hour later, the floor is picked up, scraps and miscellaneous supplies are put away, and the room is ready to be played in. Yay!

LOAD DAY 20

 

Although I'm tired of using pictures from this past Mother's Day, I'm running out of photos... 

LOAD DAY 19

 

PTI buttons, of course.

LOAD DAY 18

I know. It's a simple layout. But I'm running out of steam at this point. I'm lucky I haven't given up already.

PTI Goodies, Enablers, and More...

Today I received my box of PTI goodies. It came while I was out.

I got Butterfly Dreams, the butterfly die, Fillable Frames, the Fillable Frames die, a couple of different inks, two paper packs, Studio Style, and Dot Spot.

Speaking of being out... You know how they say that addicts shouldn't hang out together. Yeah, I think it's for a reason. Mrs. Enabler and I were chatting on FB...about crafting, Copics, Prismas, and coloring, and I end up asking her if she wants to head into town to check out some art stores.

Bad mistake.

C2F

J's Knickknacks

Hawaiian Graphics

Yikes! The company was awesome. The convos were delightful. But the wallet is waaaay lighter.

Lots of goodies to play with. Cards to come...

Excuse: Haven't done much in the card dept. because of LOAD, which is kicking my butt!

LOAD DAY 17

 

Tried a photo grouping. I wish I felt inspired to spend more time on the journaling and title, but oh, well! I like all of these pictures, so it'll have to do. 

I wanted to spend some time coloring tonight, but I'm tired. The little man has a field trip tomorrow and has asked for SPAM musubi, so I have to wake up extra early. BRAT! 

Hopefully, this weekend, I'll have a lot of crafting time. Maybe my PTI goodies will be in by then as well.

LOAD DAY 16

 

This layout is horrible. I threw the pictures on the cardstock, added some Thickers, and wrote on a tag. I did it because I can't quit now. I have 12 more days to go, and if I quit now, I'll be very angry with myself. 

LOAD DAY 15

 

Forgot to share yesterday's layout. You wouldn't believe what pattern is on the other side of this paper. It's a little bright and funky. The side I used for this layout is perfect. It's a natural, bamboo looking paper. It's pretty neutral, perfect for the pictures. 

Copics First Attempt

 

Here she is... I really love the markers. They're magical. 

Copics!

The hubs indulges me. He does. Today we went into town to Hawaiian Graphics, where I bought 12 Copics. I ended up buying the Sketch markers because my friend...we'll call her Mrs. Enabler for the sake of anonymity, did further research and found that the Ciao markers hold less ink. Although I knew that, I didn't think it'd matter. However, after also speaking with one of the workers at Hawaiian Graphics, he said that it's waaaaaay harder to refill the Ciao markers. So based on the recommendations of Mrs. Enabler and Mr. Helpful Saleperson, I decided that I needed to pony up the $1 or so more the Sketch markers would require.

I tried to control myself. I really did. However, I didn't want to purchase too few and not be able to complete a project.

For flesh, I ended up getting
E00
E11
RV10 (blush/cheeks)

Tops (PTI's color trio matching Raspberry Fizz)
RV04
RV17
RV19

Bottoms/Jeans (PTI's color trio matching Enchanted Evening)
B95
B97
B99

Brown Hair (because I refuse to color blond stamps)
E25
E27
E29

The pens were $6.25 and I could either choose a 10% educator discount OR pay $10 for a 5 year membership and receive 20% off on all purchases over $15. I got the membership of course because if my stamping/coloring obsession continues, it makes the most sense.

I am now a proud owner of Copics. I guess I need to learn how to use them.

PTI

Thrilled! Every month, PTI comes out with brand new product on the 15th. From the 5th, there are sneak peeks, and from the 10th, there are projects using the new product. Then, at midnight on the 15th, everything goes live.

Well, this month it's PTI's 3rd anniversary, and there are soooooo many yummy, new products.

The sad thing about PTI is that shipping is outrageous. In order to get free shipping, you have to spend $100, which if you know me, is very, very difficult. Okay, just kidding. Anyway, luckily, I now have a friend to split orders with. Lol.

Because there was so much hype, I made sure to order at midnight (EST). My PTI buddy and I got everything we wanted, but I have to admit, I felt a little bad telling my daughter she needed to wait for me to cut her meat until I put in my order. I got on right at 7 (midnight EST) and quickly put in the order, double checking to make sure that I got everything I wanted. I submitted and breathed a sigh of relief.

Imagine how I felt when I found out that a few of the things we ordered were SOLD OUT by 12:15! See, madness pays off! If I didn't rush like a maniac and get the order in, we might now have gotten what we wanted. Whew!

LOAD DAY 14

 

The relationship between Jay and Kawai is a special one. He is not the most affectionate guy, but when she hugs him, I see him melt a little. He adores her, and it's obvious when they're together. I love watching them spend time together. 

PTI Challenge Day 13

 Today's challenge from PTI was to create a sheet (acetate) of floral embellies, use them on a card, and give the sheet to a friend.

 

The lighting is bad because I'm trying to finish before the deadline. It's 11:23 p.m. here in Hawai'i. :) I used my absolute favorite PTI set, In Bloom. I layered the big flower. You can't see, but the base of the card is kraft and there's black cardstock layered over that. The snow ink didn't show up too well, but I think that was my fault. I might have gotten some stamp cleaner on the stamp. Yikes. The flower is raspberry fizz, and the leaves are ripe avocado.

  

The sheet of embellies has one large, layered flower, three smaller flowers, and three sets of leaves. This sheet of embellies is for my enabler friend who loves raspberry fizz even more than me. I hope she can create some cool cards with these.

LOAD DAY 13

 

Kawai's 5th birthday. Tomorrow's layout will be Kahia's 7th birthday... A day before his 8th birthday. Sheesh! Took me a whole year to scrap last year's birthday. 

LOAD DAY 12

 

Quick layout. I have to pick up more pictures from Costco. I realized that the only pictures I took last year were football. There are only so many football layouts one person can do!

This layout needs journaling. I like this picture. I took it when we headed to the movies. Kawai used her Christmas Coupon Book movie coupon a few days after Christmas. This picture is so ordinary looking, but it's one of the few pictures where you can really see how similar the kids faces are.

Baby Bug

I just listed my Cricut for sale on Craigslist. I hope someone is interested. I'm asking for $100 and including 2 carts (George and Base Camp) and 1 extra mat. If someone buys it, I can get my Big Shot from Ben Franklin on Monday with my 20% off coupon. That would be incredibly awesome. I know the hubs said I could buy it if I wanted it, but I really should get rid of the baby bug. I don't use it anymore. Crossing my fingers...

PTI Origami Challenge

 

The challenge was to use origami, so I dug out all my origami paper and books from my childhood. I made the branch and two cicadas. The cardstock and "hello" are both PTI, of course.

LOAD DAY 11

 

Just call it speed scrapping. That's all I've been doing lately, just trying to get the pages done. I felt a little irritated with myself yesterday because I'm throwing pages together. I realized though, when I was showing Jay the pages that though they're quick pages, I'm getting layouts done. 11 layouts in the past 11 days. That's pretty cool!

LOAD DAY 10

 

Losing steam...Day 10. 5 minute layout. Gotta love Thickers.

LOAD DAY 9

Fast. I mean, fast...layout. 10 minutes. Speed scrapping. Got home from Kawai's game at 6:30 and felt super rushed to get my layout posted in time. Whew! Made it!

LOAD DAY 8

 

Here is my layout for LOAD DAY 8. I used paper I got from the unfortunate demise of our LSS, Scrapbook Heaven. I LOVE THE ABBEY ROAD PAPER. Seriously. Yummy.

LOAD DAY 7

Coconut Island Memories... Losing steam here, and it's only the end of the first week. Luckily, I had some pics developed at Costco. Hopefully those will inspire me.

CPS- Sketch 153 (PTI Sponsored)

Here's the sketch.  And then my take on it.

I played with my favorite PTI stamps today. I used their suggestion and cut the three layers of the flower out and popped them up. You can't see that too well. I have to figure out how to take better pictures of my cards. Blech. I think I might have to do what Val (my favorite Stampin' Up demonstrator) suggested and create a little tent. 

All supplies used are PTI except for the white cardstock, which is something PTI I don't have. Lucky me, it should be here sometime next week, since I just put in a massive order for yummy buttons and paper.

LOAD DAY 6

 

Simple layout, but a must do!

LOAD DAY 5

 

Day 5 was a Christmas layout. I need to work on today's. I think it'll be another Christmas layout, but we'll see. I realized we do gingerbread every year. This is the third year, and the first year I'm actually documenting it. Bad mommy!

LOAD DAY 4

 

This is today's layout. I went outside my comfort zone and used bright colors. (Aren't you proud of me, Leish?)

LOAD DAY 3

 

This layout was a long time coming. These pictures are about 6 months old. This was Kahia's first 5 on 5 league. 

The Greeting Farm: Miss Anya Dressy

I caved and finally bought some Anyas from Munchkins in Mililani. I've seen them all over Splitcoast, and thought they were so cute. Again, I didn't want to stamp, but they're just sooooo cute. Last night, I stamped them out and colored some of the images with my watercolor pencils. I made this card.

It made me realize I kinda want some Copics. Lol.

The kids saw the card and wanted a chance to color their own Anyas. Yup, even Kahia. You know that boy has metro tendencies. Guess who colored which ones?

 

 

Sidenote: Did you know the designer of Anyas designed the YogurtMama logo? That is soooo cool!

LOAD DAY 2

 

Most scrapbookers don't end up in the albums. I'm not to keen on Jay taking pics of me looking like this, but hey, it's real life! This was a quick layout to fulfill LOAD Day 2's challenge. 

LOAD DAY 1

February 1 marks the first day of LOAD 2010. That's one layout each day during the month of February. Nuts, maybe? This is my third LOAD challenge. Here's today's layouts. It's all about beginnings.