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Hello readers!  I have a new blog now.  Please jump on over to http://kindness paper.blogspot.com!http://kindnesspaper.blogspot.com

Inspiration - It's Everywhere!

Recently I had the good fortune to make a trip to Tokyo Disneyland with my Bestie, Lezley!  We had a FABULOUS time and I can't wait to scrap our pictures!  While I was there I picked up a cute postcard of Minnie Mouse.  I love the use of color in the postcard.  I was picking out some paper to make a card and thought, hmmm... I'm going to use this postcard as inspiration.  I ended up using the heart card and flowers from the Cricut Wild Card Cartridge.  I also used the Storybook cartridge for the fancy heart in the middle of the card.  I used cardstock from the DCWV Flower Shower Spring Matstack and some misc. purple stripe and white cardstock.  I wanted to glam this card up with my FAVorite Stickles Diamond glitter glue.  What do you think?  Kawaii!!  :)

Remember when I will see you again.....

I love making cards for my husband when he is deployed.  With this card, I wanted to let him know that I am looking forward to when I get to see him again.  This design can easily be adapted into an anniversary or birthday card.  I used Basic Grey Marrakech patterned paper and stickers for this card.  I love the quality and the variety of Basic Grey paper.  Their collections are really different and eye catching!  The solid cardstock, stamps, ink and sheer ribbon is all from CTMH.  I used Marvy Uchida scalloped and circle punches to show the date I was looking to!  It's almost always a good idea when stamping to outline the edges of your cardstock in ink.  It really makes them stand-out!  The one thing I noticed about this card was that my green scallop didn't match close enough to the green in my patterned paper.  I can't stress enough how important matching your colors is when you want a really polished project.  I'm still looking forward to the end of October!!!  :)

GAME TIME Layout

I LOVE my job here in Japan!  I teach English conversation to Japanese students.  The children's favorite time is the last 10-15 minutes of class when we have GAME TIME!  We always play American games like UNO, Spoons, matching games, etc.  They love JENGA!!  I handed a student the camera and here are the pics he took!  Marina, Takuro, Haruki and Jun are in the pictures.  I used my Cricut cartridge, Simply Sweet, to make the letters.  The patterned cardstock is Martha Stewart.  The sand and holiday red (around pics) is CTMH cardstock.  The letters were all cut from Bazzill cardstock.  The red letters are Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock.  I cut the letters at 1 1/2" on the Cricut Expression.  I think the letters come out much nicer when you cut the shadow layer out for them. 

If you look at the two pictures above, you will see that I cut out around a few of the "log" circles and tucked the picture underneath.  I also cut out the bird on the log and did the same.  Great way to add interest to the pictures without having extra embellishments.  I added some white hand detailing to the "Game Time" and black hand detailing to the "Jenga" to give it a more polished look.  This came out so nice!  I've got to get more pics of the students!  :)

I also made a sign to hang up in class from the Hello Kitty Font cardtridge.  Here it is:  Kawaii!!  :)

August Birthdays!

Two of my favorite people have August birthdays!  My BFF, Jennifer and my Grandma Swan.  I set out to make them both a card that will go with their taste!  The paisley card was for Jennifer.  Jennifer is a very classy lady and I think this card is classy too!  The card base is a navy color from Creative Memories (don't know the name of the color) and the front is CTMH Colonial White.  Behind the C. White is some brown cardstock from a Bazzill Fourz pack.  I saved the brown sheer ribbon from a gift someone gave me.  I don't EVER throw ribbon away that comes on gifts.  I always find somewhere to use it!!  The stamps, ink and markers are all from CTMH.  I love the accents with Diamond Stickles!!  This card is one of my favorite items that I have made.  Inside I used a piece of Colonial White and stamped a few of the small flowers in the corners. 

My Grandma Swan loves GREEN!  I used Sweet Leaf cardstock from CTMH to make the card base.  I had the roses and embellishments from K&Company.  I stamped Happy Birthday in the middle of the cardstock embellishment with CTMH Ink and Stamps.  I added a strip of pink Bazzill Swiss Dot cardstock.  I used a little bit of ink around the edges of the card and on the pink strip so that I could tie together the differences in the pink colors a little.  I used some Stickles glitter glue around the center embellishment to give it extra sparkle.  Inside I used another embellishment tag that said "Beautiful You".  It came out super Kawaii! 

HELLO!

Living in Japan is AMAZING.  I love it here!  However, there are days when I just miss my friends.  With the time difference and everyone's hectic lives, sometimes we go for weeks without saying HELLO!  Here's a sweet little card I made for my BFF Jennifer.  I used a blue card base from DCWV Flower Shower Spring Box of Cards.  I just started using their boxed cards and I LOVE THEM!!!  It is just so fast to grab a card and envelope out of the box and start crafting.  Some of the cards are solid colors and some are patterned.  Some even have light glitter on them.  I found this box at Joann.com on sale for $5.99 for 40 cards and envelopes.  What a deal!  For this card I used green Bazzill Bling cardstock, CTMH Daisy White cardstock, and some scrap patterned papers.  The sheer ribbon and the adorable green brad is also CTMH.  I used a pop dot behind the brad.  The frog and the Hello! are clear acrylic stamps from CTMH.  I also used CTMH ink.  Love the frog!!  Kawaii!!!

Bananas For YOU!

My husband is not even halfway through his Summer Deployment on the big SHIP and I am counting the days.  I really am "Bananas" for him!  I was looking at the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge and saw this cute little monkey.  I used a green card from DCWV Flower Shower Spring Box of Cards.  I added some twill ribbon on the bottom.  I cut the monkey at 3.5" and the "I'm Bananas 4 You!" at 2".  The chocolate cardstock for the monkey base is CTMH, the taupe and yellow is Bazzill cardstock, and the red hearts is Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock.  The patterned papers are scraps from an old project.  I was going to leave the card natural looking, but I just can't seem to stay away from my Stickles glitter glue lately.  I love the added polish it gives.  I did some hand detailing to finish.  The monkey is so Kawaii!!!