Accordion Flip Album Card

I thought I'd better schedule this post before our electricity goes out... We are expecting a tropical storm Flossie soon and everyone's kinda bracing themselves for the worst.  Normally, the Hilo seems to somehow escape all the bad storms and other civil defense emergencies untouched, but I think this time we might be feeling some effects.  So thought I'd better get this ready in case that happens.  Oh, and in the event there is no post tomorrow, you'll know why!

Before I share my project, I just wanted to remind everyone to check out our guest DT's blog... Kerry! Thanks Kerry for helping us out this month!  Go check her out here...

And don't forget!  We also have all the Zodiac girls back this time for some all new release samples.  Check them out here:

Laura

Eunice

Patti

Linda

Linda, Debi, Eva, will also share their sea creature projects with you!  I'm so excited to see what everyone does this month!

As for me, I was inspired by Eunice's card featured here... I finally got my hands on that die by Sizzix called the Accordion flip album  or something like that.  Anyway, I love acetate cards and am always intrigued by them.  When I saw Eunice's card, I knew I wanted to try doing the same with the new sea creatures set.  

Remember what I said about the sea creatures being the perfect friends for our mermaids?  Well, I decided to add Eliana to the project so she could hang out with some of them.  Here she is!  Talking to one of the turtles...

I didn't have anything that looked like seaweed, so I just used some of my yellow stickles and made my own.

Here's one of the starfish...

And everyone's favorite Puffer fish...

And the dolphin talking to the...

Octopus!

And here's the other starfish.. decided to color him yellow.

And one more turtle...

Hope you guys are enjoying all the projects so far!  Wish me luck in getting one more post up!

It's Release Day!

We made it to Release Day!!!  Yay!   Now's the time to get these new mermaids and add the rat and pig to your zodiac collection.

I have one final project to share with you from this release... I think Eliana is my favorite mermaid.  I just love coloring up her hair!  It's not too curly or too straight- just enough wave in it to have fun playing with shading.

Decided to use Eliana to make some samples for our retailers.  I love the simplicity of small cards.  Because of the small size, you don't have to worry about filling up white space.  Decided to go with some bright beach prints by Imaginisce.  I recently picked up some new Copic colors- yes, I didn't have enough... ahem.... and thought they'd match well with the bright color pallet from the paper.

Here's a better look at Eliana...

As you can see, I had fun playing with their hair color!

Well, hope you enjoyed all the projects from this release!  Can't wait to show you what we have in store for our upcoming birthday!!!!

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.

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!

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!