Class Samples

Today is our last day of project shares from this new release.  A big mahalo to our guest designer Mimi for all her help!  And an aloha to our Zodiac team who always seem to come up with cool projects using our zodiac images.  And can't forget Debi- thanks girl!

Recently, I taught a copic coloring class using my new mermaid pals.  I love that you can color their hair different colors!  I am still tempted to try to color up their skin a different color but I have a feeling everyone will think its too weird.  For now, I'll stick to colored hair.

In the class, I like to keep the cards pretty simple so we can focus on coloring. The first class I used Aurora as the main image, but then switched to Eliana.  I just love coloring up her hair!

Here's a closer look at the two cards..

Oki doki!  Wow!  Can't believe we made it to the end of the previews!  Had so much fun with these new images!  It's fun to switch it up once in awhile- don'tcha think? Hope you enjoyed our mermaids as much as I did... And don't forget to leave comments on each introductory post by 11:59pm HST tonight to be eligible to win these little maids.

Aurora Centerpiece

Welcome back!  Did you check out our guest designer yesterday?  We are so happy to have Mimi join us this time around- Thanks Mimi!  Can't wait to see what else she has in store!!

Today we also have our Chinese Zodiac gang showcasing our two new additions to the group- the rat and the boar.  I'm sure you'll be inspired by their projects!  Here's the links to their creations:

Patti

Eunice

Laura

Linda

So I've been extremely busy.  In fact, that doesn't even begin to describe how busy I am!!!  But I'm hanging in there.  Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I decided to release these maid's at the end of May when school gets out.    Nevertheless... I managed to crank out some projects to share with you.  It's amazing what you can get done if you set your mind to it.  (Now I'm channeling Marty McFly from Back to the Future)...

So in an effort to kill two birds with one stone, I decided to try to make a centerpiece for my daughter's upcoming birthday party.  Poor girl's birthday is in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the end of the school year, that we typically have her party a month or even two month's later.  

This year, we are having a pool party, so I thought it would be neat to include our mermaids in the festivities.  One suggestion from my smart husband was to make a centerpiece.  OK, more short cut confessions.... you can find these star sprays pre-made at your local craft store. All I did was bend down one of the wires and taped Aurora to it!!! Then I did the same using the Happy Birthday sentiment by Island Scrapbooking and VOILA!  Instant centerpiece!  I actually think I lucked out since it's also graduation season, so there's a lot of this kind of stuff available.   Here's the full view...

Here's a close look at Aurora...  I like how she really stands out since she's so bright against the silver spray.

That's all I have today... don't forget to check out Mimi's blog, and Debi's blog for more mermaid madness!  And don't forget we also have the Chinese Zodiac gang showcasing our newest additions to the series..  Catch you tomorrow!

Happy Mail

Are you ready to find out who our guest designer is for this release?  I love to scout the internet for Sister Stamps projects to see how our customers are using our images.  She's used our images quite a few times and they always seem to catch my eye...  Wanna know who it is?  Check out her blog here... and give her a warm welcome to our Sister Stamps family!

And don't forget to check out Debi's blog to see what she's been up to...

So you are probably wondering about the title of this post right?  Doesn't everyone love Happy Mail?  I sure do.  I think everyone has a different version of what they consider happy mail.  For me, it's obviously something craft related.  Whether it be when my new stamps come in from the manufacturer, or when I get RAKs from friends, or any craft supply order!!  Then my bad day just melts away and I'm Happy!  For my husband, I think Happy Mail is anything taiko related... including that raw hide skin that periodically shows up in my garage from time to time.

For my project share today, I decided to make a mail sorter.  Now, you can tell from my project that all the things I've described as Happy Mail would probably not fit in this mail sorter (cause it normally comes in a box), but I also get fun mail too, so I thought I'd make a section for that.  I love it when I get cards or other stuff using our images from customers, blog candy winners or past guest DT... Maybe I'll get more so I can put in the fun mail pocket.

Used some old thickers I had to spell out fun mail.  I guess I'm not so straight yah?

The next section is for bills...  boooooooooo!  Or as my husband says... "pay my automobills" (pls sing this in your best Beyonce voice).  Bwahahahahahaha!  We all hate bills, but they are a part of life, so better include a section for it.

As you can see here, there are pockets for each section.

Then at the bottom of the sorter, I cut a strip of thick cork which my friend Tracy gave to me. Thanks Tracy!!! I'm finally using it!  Glued it onto the edge and added some push pins. Now you can tack on messages to hang from the bottom.

See!  My daughter made me a note for my mail sorter.

Added in Eliana because she matches so cute with that Imaginisce paper!

If you scroll too fast you might miss an easter egg.... This entire mail sorter was made from a metal shingle I found at Home Depot.  They sell them by the piece for a little over $1!  My sister made this heart marble magnet for me for Christmas last year.  So yes you can even use magnets on this mail sorter!

That's all I have for today!  Be sure to visit our Guest Designer and Debi's blog- see above for links to their websites.  And don't forget to join us tomorrow for more release fun, including the return of our Chinese Zodiac team with our newest additions to the collection!

Taiko Rat

Aaaahh... Year of the Rat... My husband's year...  First to arrive and takes the first spot on the Chinese Zodiac calendar.  Read the back story here...   I'm actually an ox, and always felt rats were sneaky little buggers for figuring out they could ride on the ox's head only to cut to the front of the line. Funny that I should marry a rat huh?!

I already told you that I'm thinking of making a mini scrapbook of my family using the Chinese Zodiac images.  Here's the layout I came up with using a picture of my husband that was taken on our last trip to Japan...

So... no, I'm not calling my husband a "rat", but he is born in year of the rat.  I thought it would be funny to call this layout "taiko rat" since that's what he is!  I even looked up the word rat and here's one of the definitions... "Slang.a person who frequents a specified place: mall rat; gym rat. " ... He's definitely a taiko rat!  To learn more about people born in the year of the rat, check out this site...

Here's a better look at the two "rats".

OK people... time for our last giveaway for this release! 

1)  Leave a comment on THIS POST if you would like a chance to win this year of the rat stamp by 05/31/13 11:59pm HST; and

2)  Tell me what you like to do in your spare time.  As you already know, I am a crafty rat!

Be back tomorrow to reveal who our guest designer is this month!  Ta ta for now!

The Golden Pig

And now it's time for our next Chinese Zodiac releases!  As you know, we are releasing all of the Chinese Zodiac characters this year.  By the end of 2013, we will have the complete set available.  Animals colored in are available now.

I recently discovered that within our family, we have someone in almost every sign of the Chinese Zodiac!  Since I had previously made a mini scrapbook page found here... I thought I could make a scrapbook using all of the images!  

The next in our series is the Pig/Boar... The last time it was the year of the boar, my nephew was born. He lucked out and came in at the tail end of the lunar year and made it in as a GOLDEN pig.  Apparently this lucky year only comes around every 600 years?  Check out this article...

My nephew was recently crowned May Day King at his pre-school's May Day program.  How does one get to be May Day King at pre-school?  We found out it was because he has been at that pre-school the longest.  Guess he is lucky and GOLDEN!  So I named this layout... "Golden Boy". I have a feeling this boy will be one lucky pig.

I didn't think I could color up the pig with gold markers, so I decided to heat emboss it onto gold cardstock.

Kept the layout simple using just a strip of washi and added the word golden in the same gold cardstock.  It was cut using a PTI alphabet die set.  The "boy" was done using Simple Stories alphabet stickers.  And that little mizuhiki was purchased in Japan from my last trip.

That's all for now... stop by tomorrow for more Zodiac fun!

Oops!!! Forgot to add in about our blog candy!  Duh...  Guess I was rushing again...
1)  Leave a comment on THIS POST by 05/31/13 11:59pm HST. and
2) Tell me if you believe in the Chinese Zodiac predictions...

Meet Aurora!

Hey Everyone!  Back again with another introduction!  Today, I am pleased to introduce you to Aurora.  

So, I know most of you thought this mermaid was named after Disney's Sleeping Beauty, but she really wasn't.  Aurora was named after my Sister's niece.  She lives in Italy and is sisters with Eliana.  My sister helped me to choose which mermaid to name after each girl, and she thought this one really matched Aurora.   I have yet to meet her in person, so I'll take my sister's word for it.

I'm having a blast playing with all of the mermaid's hair and fin colors!  It's so refreshing to not choose the typical, black, brown, red or blond hair.  This is my chance to play with more colors and I seem to be gravitating to the bright colors. The brighter the better!

I found my old Stampin up die that reminds me of a beach bag and thought that would be the perfect project for a mermaid. Since the paper was yellow, I decided to pick contrasting bright colors for her hair, the sentiment and her fin.  Went all out with the turquoise hair- never thought I'd like blue hair!

The sentiment is a custom laser cut by Island Scrapbooking.  Added on some coordinating red flowers.

And here's a better look at Aurora.

Oops!  Almost forgot about our blog candy!  You know the deal....
1)  Leave a comment on THIS POST by 05/31/13 11:50pm; and
2)  Tell me what color hair you would want as a mermaid.  I think I would want pink or red.


Be back tomorrow with our latest in the Chinese Zodiac line.  See you tomorrow!!

You're A Treasure!

Welcome to day 2 of our mermaid intros...  Today I'm happy to introduce Simona to you.  Simona is my brother-in-law's sister who also lives in Italy.  We met her when my sister got married, but unfortunately haven't been able to return yet to see their girls.  We had such a nice time with her and her husband even though we didn't speak a word of Italian!!!  Simona didn't speak much English but her husband did, so ended up translating for us most of the time.  The weird thing is we ended up getting pregnant and having our daughters only 2 days apart!

So this image was named after Simona- Hi Simona!  Hope you and Angelo are doing well...

Now for a funny story.  I had an idea stuck in my head on a project I wanted to make using one of the mermaids.  So I hunted high and low at our local craft supply store.  I really wanted to make a treasure chest!!!  So I combed through every aisle, but couldn't find anything.. until I came upon a display that was set up in one of the aisles.  It was mostly beach themed stuff, and right on the shelf was this small treasure chest.. the perfect size for my mermaids.  Unfortunately, it didn't have a tag, so I asked one of the girls if they had any more or if I could buy this one.  So they checked and that was the last one and they had already damaged the item out of their inventory.  But they were nice enough to sell it to me at a  reduced price. Yay!  That made me happy.  Poor girl had to dump out the beads they had inside as their treasure.

So after I got it home, I gesso'd it then painted it gold.  Added on some large gems by Kaisercraft that I had leftover from a few years back.  They were the perfect size to match the chest.

Then I colored up Simona.. she looks so happy yah?  The fun thing about mermaids is that you can color them up any color!!!  I decided to go with purple hair this time and some blue fins.  So liberating to play with my other colors.

And every treasure chest should have treasure inside right?  My daughter had these gems (she loves playing with them), so I "borrowed" them for this photo.

Ok Sister Stampers... if you want to win a Simona of your very own, here's all you have to do:
1)  Leave a comment on THIS post by 05/31/13 11:59 HST.
2)  Tell me how far you've gone to get a craft item you needed badly?

Meet Eliana

Hi Everybody!

So you are probably wondering why we have some non-asian stamps for you this release?  Well, every once in awhile, me and my sister talk shop and discuss what type of images we want to release next.  Then she goes to town on those ideas and we see what she comes up with.  She's been talking about doing up some mermaids for awhile now, so I told her to give it a shot and we'll decide if we want to release them or not.  Once I laid my eyes on these cuties, I knew we had to release them to the world so everyone out there can enjoy them too.

Our first mermaid is Eliana...  As some of you may already know, my sister lives in Italy with her Italian husband.  He has a sister and two young nieces... For some reason, when I saw the mermaids, I totally thought of them!  My sister helped me to pick out which mermaids matched each girl.  We decided that this girl matched Eliana's personality the best, so that's how she got her name.  Eliana is a sweet but shy little girl and this mermaid seems on the shy side, so I thought it was a perfect fit.

Speaking of mermaids... my daughter is....

Don't get me wrong... when we first put her in the water, she HATED IT!!!!  Totally tensed up and would sink like a rock if we weren't holding her.  She cried all through her IPAP (infant and parent) swim classes as a baby, etc.   Since we live on an island, I pushed the issue and FORCED her to take private lessons since she was so scared to death of the water.  After the private lessons.. she turned into a fish!  If your child is scared to death of the water, I highly recommend one on one private lessons before group lessons.  Now we can't pry her from the water!

I decided to make a layout using a photo from Akemi's birthday a few years ago.  In Hilo, there aren't good beaches- lots and lots of rock... but there is a place where you can rent beach houses that have great access to the water.  Calm enough for letting kids swim and the turtles even swim into the area along with other sea critters.  Someone brought a raft and the kids took turns on top of it.

Before adding the photo, I laid down some cheesecloth for texture.  I like that it looks like an net.  Then I added some Prima flowers, acrylic flowers and beaded sprays to the side of the photo, along with Eliana.  Also found some Recollections bling in my stash and added that too.

Here's a closer look at all the goodies...

Every once in awhile I have the need to do a layout the old fashioned way!

So you know the drill right?  If you would like to win Eliana:

1.  Leave a comment on THIS POST by 05/31/13 11:59 HST.

2.  Tell me if you know if you love to swim or not... I like to swim but I'm more of pool person.  Yeah.. boo on me for living in Hawaii yah?

Release #14- Coming Soon!

Are you ready for summer?    Well, the summer months are just around the corner and we have the perfect trio to add some summertime fun to your projects!  Please join us in welcoming some new faces to the Sister Stamps family....

These sweeties will be featured all week so check back soon to meet each of them and the new additions to our Chinese Zodiac line!

Psst........

Hi Facebook Fans!

If you like us on Facebook- go check out our page today for a surprise!

Have a Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Release #13 Winners and Another Teaser?

Hooray!  We made it to Release Day!!  April was a looooonnnngggg month, but we finally made it to May!  May will be a super duper busy month for me, so I'm guessing it will go by quickly.

Without further delay... Here's the winners of this release's blog candy!

Li-Li- Daydream Creations
Shin-Shin-  Lysa
Haruyo- Stephanie

Yay!  Congrats to all the winners!  Please email me at sisterstampsllc@gmail.com with your mailing address.  Thanks for playing!

Before I leave you, just wanted to share this...

Any guesses?