Life Is Sweeter When Shared With Friends

Happy Aloha Friday!  Yay, made it to the end of the week!  I must say,  this has been a looooong week for me.  Just glad the weekend is here!

Before I share my project with you, I wanted to thank Cindy for helping us with this release!  Thanks Cindy! Please check out her blog to see what else she created for Release #9.  And many thanks to Debi for hosting another blog candy and for her awesome samples!  Thanks Debi!  Speaking of candy, you still have time to enter to win all of the candies being offered on this blog and Debi's blog. Good Luck!

I had a hard time getting in the groove of coloring for this release.  I kept putting it off and putting it off.  But now that it's here, I had to scramble and figure out what I wanted to do.  If you visit my personal blog, you'll know I've been into the Shabby Chic groove and can't seem to stop creating projects in this theme.  Most of them don't incorporate stamps, so I found it especially challenging.  I definitely wanted to make a Shabby project for you.  Since Shabby and Buddies don't seem to mix, I decided to save it for my BFF project.  Here's what I came up with....

I made a box card in a 6x6 size.  They are super easy to make and you can find a bunch of tutorials on youtube.  I changed the dimensions of mine so that it was a bit bigger than the ones featured.  Because the BFFs are a wider stamp, wanted to make sure their bodies would fit.  The background paper used is by Prima.  I absolutely love this paper!  It's a very washed out floral background but it comes in other prints that include butterflies!  I think I just like the vintage-y washed out look.

Here's a close up of the two BFF's.  While making the scene, I thought they needed a forest friend, and decided to use the bunny from the Masa stamp.

Don't know if you can tell, but I added a couple of hills cut from kraft cardstock for the girls to run and play on.  To add color and interest, I glued on some flowers by All Natural Accents.

In the background, I cut a tree from Memory Box.  Since the cuts are intricate and flimsy, I ended up gluing the tree to some acetate for stability.  I think you can see the acetate in the pix, but normally, you can't.

And yes, that's a double row bling mesh framing the frame.  I also took a close up of the floral cluster (flowers by I Am Roses and Wild Orchid Crafts).  Added in one of my stickpins- just because!  You can't see in this pix, but the sentiment in the background says "Life is Sweeter When Shared With Friends".. which is so true!  Looking forward to Saturday where I get to see my CBFF Debi!  That sentiment is from one of my favorite Hero Arts sets.

Hope you enjoyed all of our samples for this release!  Only one day left till you can get your stamps!  And don't forget to enter to win our blog candy...  Have a good weekend!

Leap Froggin...

Before I go into my card share today, I just wanted to announce our special guest designer for this release!  She designs for one of our retailers and always created such awesome cards using our images.  I just love how she always seems to use our images in new ways.  She comes up with great out of the box ideas that I just can't seem to get out of my mind!  I've repeatedly asked her to start a blog so I could feature her as our guest designer and she finally did!  Yay!  Please check out her cute samples using our images here... and give her a warm welcome to blogland!

Back to my card.. . I had to give my action wobblers some love again.  The last time I tried to use them on Takeo, I just wasn't happy with the results.  I think the balloon image was much too small, so I decided to give it another try.  What better image to use than our new Buddies image!   Started off by laying some washi over gold cardstock and then onto kraft.  Wanted to keep the background muted since the focus of the card is the action wobblers, so I chose a very dull colored washi paper.   Found some matching cardstock in my stash and cut circles using my Spellbinders.  Colored up the boys using my copics in coordinating colors too.  Added some hemp cord and a button across the circle before adhering the boys using the action wobbler.  Topped it off with a Poppy Stamps "Tomodachi" kanji sentiment. Tomodachi means "friends".  On the wood, the stamp actually says "friend" on it, but for some reason, when you stamp it, they didn't include the translation.  I still like it though since the stamp is solid and is different from my other kanji stamps.

Here's a closer look at the buddies...  BTW- I cut out their froggy friend and moved him to be leapin higher than where he is on the original image.  I think we should name him... what do you think?  Maybe "Bud"?

OK now for the action...  Again, no camera for the live demo....  But I think this photo explains it all.  My husband had to help me by activating the "boing" factor while I took the pix.  Now that's what I call Leap Froggin!

Any other suggestions for froggy's name?  Oh got a little carried away talking about froggy... Don't forget to visit Debi's blog too!  She might just have some candy to give out on her blog.

Meet Our New Buddies

Hi folks!  Back today with the other half of our new release.  Today we are featuring our new Buddies image.  Since we had BFF's, we had to throw in something for the boys right?  Since boy's don't typically hug or hold hands, we thought it would be more fun to have them playing together.  After brainstorming a few ideas, we came up with leapfrog!  I remember playing leapfrog as a kid and how much fun that was.  Now I look back on those days and wonder to myself how I ever leaped over anyone!  Ha ha ha!

This was the other card Aunty Jan sent me for this release.  She actually cut out the title from Sizzix Retro Metro alphabet dies.  I love the little details of bakers twine tied to the B and the froggy eyelet used to dot the "i".   My favorite part of this card, with the exception of the Buddies themselves (of course), is the sentiment!  Aunty tells me that this sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp.  I gotta see if I can find that one.  It's so perfect for both of our images for this release!  I especially love how she lightly colored the background blue behind the sentiment.

Here's a closer look at our buddies...

And the title...don't forget the froggy eyelet!

And don't forget the froggy.. he's so cute.

Time for more candy!  Do you want to win this stamp?  Well, just follow the same rules from yesterday's introductory post and tell me what you look for in a friend!  As for me?  Hmmmm.... someone who's honest, easy to talk to, thinks the same way as me, is NOT a drama queen, and who loves to craft!  Not asking for much right?   Don't forget to post by Friday 11:59pm HST.  And check in tomorrow to find out who our Guest Designer is for this release!

Stamp Aloha Contest

We interrupt our scheduled Release #9 posts to remind you about Ben Franklin's Stamp Aloha Contest!  Sister Stamps is a proud sponsor of this fun contest that allows both keiki and adult stampers to show off their skills featuring local stamp companies.  Sister Stamps joins Dandelion Designs and Rubber Stamp Plantation in sponsoring this fun contest.

Submit your entries to this contest to any of 6 Hawaii Ben Franklin stores or mail your entry to:

Stamp Aloha Card Contest

c/o Ben Franklin Crafts

2810 Paa St., Bldg A

Honolulu, HI 96819

Contest is open now and runs through September 3, 2012.  Each winner will receive stamps from the category they enter (by company) and a $25 Ben Franklin gift card!  Click here for rules and application.

Good luck- let's see what everyone comes up with!  Hope to see some new Sister Stamps creations out there!!

Best Friends Forever

Welcome to our first introductory post for Release #9... Wow... 9 releases already!  Still can't believe how time has flown.  It all started with two sisters who wanted to share our images with you...  Before we even came up with our name, I thought it would be great if we had a logo.  So I asked my sis to design one that we could use on our products that had two sisters in kimonos.  I then came up with the name "Sister Stamps"  since that's basically how our company came to be.  So she ran with the idea and came up with our logo... Denise is on the left (the artist) and I'm on the right (stamper). 

Believe it or not, we got a few requests to make our logo into a stamp... Or something along that lines with two girls.  So I added that to the list of suggestions to my sis and she came up with our next image- BFF's!  Really, this image can be used for many types of relationships like sisters, best friends, cousins and so forth.  I chose the name BFF's since every girl has a BFF right? To me, it will always be me and my sister. :)

On to the card... Aunty Jan saved the day again.  Just as I was starting to think about samples to post for my introductions, a package arrived in the mail with two cards for this release!  Thanks Aunty!   Here Aunty used our BFF's stamp and framed it in a sakura die cut (Lifestyle Crafts).  The smaller sakuras are cut from pink felt and she added some yellow stickles for the middles. The sentiment was by My Sentiment's Exactly and was stamped on vellum. 

This card actually reminds me of me and my cousin- Aunty Jan's daughter (aka Yoshimi).  We were very close as kids since my sister used to watch us every Saturday.  My favorite color used to be yellow and her's pink.  I guess the color combo makes me think of when we were young.  Now my favorite color is far from yellow, but yellow brings back a lot of memories for me of my youth.

Thanks again Aunty for saving the day!

Ok Candy Time!!  While on my round of make 'n takes on Oahu, I discovered that many Hawaii folk who are SS fans don't necessairly follow our blog nor did they even know it existed!!  Boy, I guess I'm not doing my job!  Ha ha ha!  So, I tried to bribe, (ahem) entice them by advertising that our blog gives away a chance to win free stamps during every release!  We'll see if any new friends enter this time around.

Here's the rules:
1)  Please leave a comment on THIS POST and tell me if you would use this stamp for your friend, sister, cousin, co-worker, etc.  Please post by Friday, 8/31/12, 11:59pm HST)
2) Follow this blog publicly if you don't already. (see our sidebar for follow button).
3)  Tell me if this is your first time entering our candy and how you heard about our blog.

Winners will be announced on 9/1/12.  Good Luck!

Ready To Meet Our New Friends?

Wow!  Can't believe it's almost time for our next release!  Just popping in to reveal our Release #9 images...

Please join us this week to meet these cuties and find out who our guest designer is!  See you soon!

Join The Fun!

We are proud to inform you that we are sponsoring a couple of fun events... Please check them out for more information on how to enter to win some of our stamps and a whole bunch of other prizes!

First up is Lollipop Craft's Birthday Blog Hop!  They are turning two this year and we wanted to join in the fun by providing some prizes... click here for more info and to join in the fun!

Next, we were honored to be asked to sponsor Ben Franklin's Stamp Aloha Contest!  Stampers and Keiki stampers can join in the fun by entering a card between 8/17/12-9/3/12 at your local Ben Franklin Crafts store in Hawaii.  For more details, click here for more info...

And don't forget to check out our facebook page for more inspiration!