MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Can't believe Christmas is tomorrow! The past 3 months flew by fast. I feel bad for not posting as often as I have in the past but I'm hoping this coming year will allow me to be a bit more flexible.

Things were crazy since my last posting. We had friends staying with us as they were transitioning to move, we traveled to California to visit my husbands family, we had TWO parties for Jonathan (one at the zoo and one at our home), my parents came out to visit, I had a couple of craft fairs I did, then the Christmas season started closing in FAST. Through all the chaos however, believe it or not I was still able to craft and participate in a recipe and Christmas tag swap. I promise to catch you up on my craft adventures as well as post photos on my next post.

In the mean time, just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

God Bless you all!

The Death of a Big Shot...

I killed my Big Shot-can you believe it?! I was making wedding favors and the handle broke off as I was embossing them. Of course, the platform & embossing plate were about three quarters of the way through when the handle snapped off. As I tried my best not to curse the machine, I thought that maybe I could somehow unscrew everything on the bottom in hopes that the rollers would release the platform. Unfortunately- no such luck there. After dismantling the ENTIRE unit, it came down to just the metal rollers which you could not take apart as it was all welded together. What's funny is that my normally cool, calm and collected husband got so frustrated trying to figure out how to get the roller base apart that he placed the platform on it's edge and slammed it on the ground a few times. As he did that, it caused the rollers to turn which finally released the platform and my everso beloved "Branches" embossing folder. (It was pure brilliance!)

Here is a photo of my poor dismembered Big Shot. I can honestly say that unlike some things that are made in China, they really did a great job with this machine.

If you know of anyone who wants to sell their Big Shot- please let me know. I'm on a tight budget these days and I'm thinking a used one would be best. Unfortunately Craigslist wasn't much help- no one on Oahu wants to give theirs up so I might have to bite the bullet and purchase a brand new one.

On a crafty note, here are the favors I made using my pillow box die. I wish I was able to emboss them as they would have turned out much cuter but I was thankful to have them at all. I assembled the favors in the car on our way to Waikiki in which Greg and I were asked to take video and photographs of the event.
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This photo was taken on the grounds of Hale Koa. It was a little pavillion area where the ceremony was held. If you are military and want to get married in Hawaii, the cost to use the this little area was only $75! Apparently you can get married anywhere on the grounds of Hale Koa for that much, however their main pavilion area is a $500 fee.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

HERE KITTY, KTTY...

I love this time of year. It's sort of the calm before the storm. That small window of time where you can sort of catch your breath and reflect on the past summer month's before bracing yourself for what lies ahead... the holidays.

I normally don't go all out for Halloween because I'm not into celebrating the "dark side" of it but I do think it's kinda a fun. I like more "cutesy" things like smiling pumpkins, cute black cats, and the like. As a matter of fact, I have a small confession to make. On the years we are home passing out candy, I tend to give less candy to the kids in ghoulish type costumes and more to the ones in more creative and cutesy costumes. I know that may sound terrible to some of you out there but all I can say is- don't take your kid to my house if they're wearing a scary costume because they will get the shaft on candy. (sorry) Speaking of creative costumes, I think the most creative one that's come to my door was a teenage girl who was dressed as a basket of laundry. She creatively cut a hole out in a laundry basket to fit inside and attached suspender type straps at the top to go over her shoulders. On the inside she had random pieces of clothing surrounding her and an empty container of laundry detergent. It was so cute and I believe I gave her 2 extra bags of cookies that year because she was so creative.

I think the idea of dressing up on Halloween is fun but I don't normally do it. This year is going to be different however. I'm forcing my entire family to dress up (yes-all THREE of us) and that means the hubby too, although he doesn't really know about it yet. If any of you have costume ideas- I would LOVE to hear them. Just keep in mind that Hawaii is still warm in October so we're trying to avoid anything with long sleeves.

So as some of you may already know, I LOVE cats but was never really a huge fan of Hello Kitty. She never really appealed to me until lately when I went to hang out with my pals at Pineapple Cove and saw that ManLe had brought in the CUTEST Hello Kitty Stamp Sets for the store. Aren't these cute?!! (btw- the answer is YES!)

There are 9 images total but the close up below only shows 6 of the 9 images. You can orders these from Pineapple Coves Website (Click Here). I'm only showing the Halloween ones but she also has: Christmas, Activity, Garden, Play, School, Sports & Summer.

This cute little lollipop holder was created by ManLe and Leslie as a simple make & take for Pineapple Coves big sale over Labor Day Weekend. This was just the basic design and customers were encouraged to add their own stamp of flavor with embellishments.

Claudette (who I believe is Queen of Hello Kitty) Created this super cute design that has a little peek-a-boo hole for the Tootsie Pop.

My favorite detail is the "goo" flap.

I know the past few posts I haven't done any "real" crafting myself and have just been posting ideas from others but I promise to get back to creating once my home is back in order. I sort have been in a baking mode lately so don't be surprised if you see a few recipes and food posts in between. Thanks for stopping by!

Ode To Summer...

Although I've been quite flaky on the blogging scene, I did manage to have a super fun and productive summer this year and I'm so sad that it's come to a close. I'm looking forward to the holiday season however- can't wait to share holiday projects. :)

I wanted to share a small sample of what we made at our Pineapple Cove "Crafty Tuesday" group. Hope these projects inspire some creativity in you this weekend...

Mini Composition Books:

Moving Circle Card:


Photo Coasters:

Mini tea light cakes:

Gift Box with Window Lid:

I can't wait for the holiday season to start! If I had it my way, I'd have the Christmas tree up already and music filling the entire house. Now that we have Jonathan- the holidays seem so much more fun and exciting. (as if they weren't before but you know what I mean)

Sorry for the short blog but I'm having a power struggle with my child at the moment. He's trying to eat my laptop...

Thanks for stopping by and I'll post again soon!

Purse Party!

Hello? Anybody out there still reading this blog?

It's been a cyber ghost town over here in Paper Pusher land but I'm just waking up from a long hibernation and slowly getting back up on my creative feet. The past few months have been rather difficult. The main reason I wasn't able to post anything was because I haven't been able to craft much until lately. The kiddo is officially mobile so all my efforts have gone towards restraining him, keeping him away from things, keeping him busy,etc. Thank God for the ladies over at Pineapple Cove in Kahala Mall. The owner, ManLe, is WONDERFUL and she allows several of us to take over the back area of her store every Tuesday to craft, eat, socialize and share. Each week we learn a cute new project but yesterday had to be my absolute favorite so far. I love making paper look like something else so if you know my style, this was right up my alley.

This template was designed by Becky Roberts of Inking Idaho where you can purchase 3 templates for around $4. (Can't beat that!) We only used one of the templates but can't wait for the next class to make the others! For those of you who are privileged and live on Oahu, you can go to Pineapple Cove and attend a class with ManLe and she will teach you how to make these cute little gems.

Robyn's Purse:

Claudette's Purse:

Leslie's Purse:

My Purse:

Karen's Purse

We used the Moroccan Screen embossing folder from Cuttlebug to get the faux "Louis Vuitton" look. You can't really tell from the photos but Robyn and I used a pearlized paper for our purses.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think. Have a wonderful day! Until the next blog entry...

MARCH MADNESS

FINALLY, a moment to update my blog! Thanks for your patience everyone. Still trying to find my groove being a new mom. It seems that every time I think the pace is smooth, something new happens. My little angel Jonathan will be 4 months tomorrow and of course every week since he's been born goes by like flash of lightning. I love this age however. As an newborn he seemed pretty uneventful but these days he's smiling and cooing more often and it just melts my heart to see and hear his little expressions. Whats even cuter is that all this new behavior prompted daddy to rush out and purchase a video camera so I could record our sons every waking moment while dad's away at work. (A side benefit for me is that I get to use the new camera to film my tutorials so stay tuned.)

This past month has been one milestone after another. Jonathan started teething and had a tooth cut through. (At 3 1/2 months, can you believe it?!) He also got to experience his first plane ride to the mainland and I'm happy to report that he did very well on both legs of the 6 hour flight. We flew to Vegas for a few days to see my grandfather off who, after a 20 year run in America, decided it was time to move back to the Philippines. The trip was bitter sweet as this was Jonathan's first and last time to meet his great grandfather. However he also got to meet his grandfather, uncles, aunts and cousins for the very first time too so that was exciting.

Of course, in the midst of everything I have yet to sit down and craft. My hubby said that next month he will give me some time each week to get back to my love of all things paper. I can't wait to start creating and sharing with you all again! I don't normally do this but since I had nothing to share with you, I wanted to show you this cute little Pirates chest I came across:

This was created by Vicky Hayes of "Crafting Clare's Paper Moments"...

I love the attention to detail....

This would definitely be a PERFECT party favor for a Pirate themed event.

I love projects that inspire! Thanks for visiting. I have a couple of announcements coming up so make sure you stop by to see what's new. Have a wonderful day & God Bless!

SWAGBUCKS & HIP2SAVE

Aloha Everyone! I have no idea how it happened but February is upon us. I'm finally adjusting to life with a newborn and believe it or not I AM getting sleep! My little guy will be 10 weeks this Friday and he's been sleeping through the night from the time he was 6 weeks so that's been a blessing. This past weekend he decided to start sleeping 8 hours straight! (woo hoo!) He officially hit his 2 month b-day last Thursday and he's getting to be so much fun! He responds with smiles and cute cooing noises when I sing and chat with him. I told my husband the other day that I can't wait to plan all his birthday parties so I can design fun little favors and treat holders for he and his little friends. I feel as if my crafting is rising up to a new level, one with more purpose. Before I used to create items wondering who to give it to or what to do with it and now I'll have a bit more direction.

Thanks for your patience as I slowly begin updating my blog again. Unfortunately I don't have much other than Jonathan's birth announcements to show you. I do have some cool finds to show you however. Now don't be too disappointed that these aren't craft related BUT it can potentially help you save money in other areas so you can support your hobby a little more- that should spark some sort of interest too you right?!

So the first discovery I came across was from my SIL in Arizona. It's a coupon website called Hip2Save and it was created by a military wife with 3 kids who wanted to be more accountable for her spending. If you check her site daily you can download coupons, freebies, etc. What I like best is that she teaches you how to coupon stack and get things for practically NOTHING by shopping at places such as Target, CVS, Walgreen's , etc. Since I'm a SAHM this year, I've found this site to be helpful and fun to read on a daily basis. There's no fee for anything so check it out when you get a chance. I'm a Target junkie so it's just more reason for me to shop there!

The second thing I've discovered is a site called SWAGBUCKS- have you heard of it? It's a search engine site (like Google) that lets you earn Swagbucks (points) just for searching the web. (something we already do on a daily basis!) What's fun is that you can redeem your Swagbucks for items in their store like music, movies, CD's or my favorite- gift cards toAmazon and Target. It's free to join and you can start right away so if you're interested, here's how you can get started:

How To Get Started:

• CLICK HERE and register for a FREE account- you will get 3 Swagbucks for signing up!

• After registering you can immediately start searching the web as you usually would but Swagbucks search engine. If you download the tool bar, you can receive another point.
  

• Periodically as you search, you will see a pop up that tells you that you've won 1-10 Swagbucks. Collect your Swagbucks and redeem them at their store

• Another way to earn Swagbucks, is by entering the Swagcode that is released almost everyday. This is a special code that you can enter in the swagcode box and you will instantly earn Swagbucks without having to search for them! How do you get this special code? Go to the Swagbucks homepage, click on “Ways to Earn” in the top left, then click on “Special Offers” and then click on the “No Obligation Offers” blue box on the right.

Thanks for visiting me today! Have a great day everyone and God Bless!