Quiet Cold Winter

Here's another fan made by Aunty Jan. I really love the look of this fan. Its so wintery and makes me feel like curling up in my bed with a warm blanket. The kanji on the right side of the boy is the kanji for winter- which is just perfect. I love how she stamped it in light blue too- not too overpowering and lets the image stand out. The other sentiment next to the girl is a Hero Arts stamp about winter. I love how they coordinate so well together.



Here's a close up of Shimo-san and the two kiddies. She even outlined the image using the same light blue... it really makes the image pop.

Finished it off with some punched snowflakes by Martha Stewart Crafts. It also has a hook to hang the fan as an ornament or on the wall and the back is covered with washi. Thanks Aunty!

Supplies:
Shimo-san: Sister Stamps
Winter kanji- Design in Squares
Winter stamp- Hero Arts
Snowflake punch- Martha Stewart Crafts
Copics
Washi paper (on the back)
Stickles

Let It Snow!

Is everyone excited? Tomorrow is release day and you can finally get your hands on our new holiday images! Yay! Got one more card to share with you today using Shimo-san (and his friends)... Found this old Doodlebug snowflake paper in my stash and thought it would be fun to incorporate it in this card... I guess I was getting tired of the red, green, and white color scheme. The sentiment used is from an old TPC clear set and the snowflakes were punched using my MS crafts punches. This is the front of the card...



And here's the inside! I decided to brave trying out the pop-up stage card (click here for tutorial). It was a bit challenging on figuring out the placement of the images, but after a 2nd try, I got them to fit in the card properly. I won't even tell you what my first one looked like!



The sentiment is another handy dandy laser cut by Island Scrapbooking. I just love how these little sentiments make cardmaking so easy! And I'm sure you recognize those trees in the background no? They are the pine tree from the Critters in the Woods Lawn Fawn set. I paperpieced the trees together so I wouldn't have to color them.

Here's a close up of the trio. Using this background paper allowed me to color up the image using fun bright colors.



I hope you enjoyed all of our sneak peeks this week. A big MAHALO to Amy Young for all her help with this release! Thanks Amy! And as usual, thanks to Debi for all of her creative samples! OK- last chance to enter all of our blog candy giveaways! Make sure you follow the blog candy rules to be eligible. I'll post the winners later this weekend. Good Luck!

And Last But Not Least... Shimo-san

Don't laugh, but we did something a little silly with the name of this image. While searching for a good name on the internet, I decided to look up Frosty... as in Frosty the Snowman? Anyway, I believe the word "shimo" means frost, so my husband said, why not call this image "Shimo-san"... as in Mr. Frosty. I could be wrong though.. I'm sure someone will correct me along the way.
So here's the front of the card... In a minute you'll see why the focal point is a paper samurai hat....


Ta daaaaa! Here's what the card looks like when its opened. This type of card is called a pleated center pop up card. For the tutorial click here. I love this type of card as it allows you to make your images stand up when the card is opened and laid flat. I added some punched snowflakes (Martha Stewart Crafts) and made them float by adhering them to some acetate strips. Since they are strong and clear, it helps my snowflakes to float around the kids. The large doily that the sentiment is stamped on is by Papertrey Ink.


And now you see why the paper samurai hat on the front? Yes, the boy is placing this same hat on Shimo-san's head! :) Here's a closer look at the image.

Hope you enjoyed our introductory posts! We have a surprise guest designer joining us for this release so check in next week to see who it is! Before I forget, if you want to win Shimo-san, remember to post a comment on THIS POST (and follow the rest of the blog candy rules on the Setsuna introduction post) and also tell me if you've ever seen falling snow. Before this year, I never did and it was always a dream of mine to see it. I finally got my wish when we went to Japan this past March and I was estatic! I must've been the only fool taking photos in the falling snow, but I didn't mind. Coming from Hawaii I wasn't going to pass up a photo op of falling snow!


Dug up a photo from my trip... cute yah? The day it snowed we went to Tokyo Seas (2nd Disneyland park in Tokyo) and found these mini Mickey and Minnie snowmen!

Release #3 Images Revealed...

Wow- September is really flying by! Can't believe it's already time to reveal our next set of images due out on 10/1/11.




My sis sent me these images during the summer and I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself! Maybe it's cause I've been playing with the Release #1 and Release #2 images for about a year now, so these holiday stamps were a breath of fresh air and so exciting to incorporate into holiday projects. Can't wait to start sharing some of the samples with you soon. Please check in for introductions of each image this week.