Christmas is almost here!

Aloha everyone,
Just a few days 'til Christmas! My shopping is finally done, I have just a few gifts to wrap and the cards have been mailed.  I had a wonderful time with one of my grand-daughters last night and today, and I can't wait 'til the whole family comes together on Friday.

A new phase of our life starts the day after Christmas, one of which I'm sure will take some getting use to. Christmas day is the last day my husband is on duty for HFD, yep, he's retiring.  Don't worry, my "honey do" list is waiting for him.

Here's a few things I've been busy with:

Tea time holder/dispenser

Thank you Brenda for directing us to Jane's blog for the tutorial on this box.  And, thanks again Jane for the excellent tutorial! I used some Yuzen paper that I adhered to cardstock for some of the toppers.
Here's a few more earrings I made the other day.  Someone needed a couple of more gifts, so I made these for her to choose from.

Amethyst,Freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystal with SS or 14k gold-filled, your choice.

She chose these freshwater pearls

 

Matchboxes for earrings

I made the matchboxes from the Bigz diecut for Stampin'Up.
That's it for now. Have a very Merry Christmas!
Aloha,

This Santa's Workshop is cracking

Aloha everyone,
I don't know why, but I woke up this morning and had this over-whelming need to cry. Not hysterical kind, just the tears kept flowing kind. Maybe from lack of sleep? I've been averaging 4-6 hours nightly these days; seems there's only one elf in the workshop. Maybe a lack of B-complex vitamin.

At any rate, here are some of the things I've been up to.  I ran away from the workshop this past weekend to attend a silver smithing workshop (last minute decision). I've always wanted to attend one of Gordon Uyehara's classes, but noticed the prerequisite was his basic silver class. I figured everyone would be busy with the Christmas hustle so I called 2 days before the class and sure enough there was an opening.  I learned a lot of good pointers from Gordon and now I'm not so afraid to use the torch (which I had for years) or the propane dome oven (hardly used) since taking his class. Gordon is a silver master and he makes everything look so easy, plus he's so laid back about the whole subject.  I can't wait to take his other classes next year.   So, here's a few of the charms I made:

I took some rubberstamps that I had and used them to impress the silver clay. The one with the tombow, I first used a texture plate, then stamped with the tombow. The piece that looks like a coin was also a stamp, I just cut around the piece about 1/8" before firing.  I so enjoyed the class, however,  I don't think I'll be making more until next year. I feel like things are moving so hectically, I think if I stop, I'll fall off the train and can't get back on.
I'll post the teatime boxes I've made after tomorrow, 'cause I'm giving them out tomorrow night.  In the meantime, here's a few of the thirty something cards I've been frantically making.

These are all fast and fun. On the inside (sorry, not shown), I used the spellbinder to frame out the sentiment that I typed on the computer and printed.
That's it for now. Aloha,

Look What I Got and Then Some!

Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)! Whew! Time is flying by so quickly, I didn't realize I missed posting last week. I've been busy making boxes for tea and cocoa, thank you Brenda for that. I've also been making more gift tags. I haven't posted  photos because I'm using them for favors and giveaways for the parties I'll be attending. In between all of that, I've been trying to do the gift shopping and visiting with the GCs. My sanity is saved when I take a pause to remember why we have Christmas and that the very first gift ever was the gift from God. Then I go on with the madness of the festivities. Hehehe.

So, some of you remember the birthday giveaway that Sweet As a Gumdrop had? I was the lucky winner of that giveaway, but I only now got around to photo snapping all the goodies I won, plus some other wonderful gifts from Brenda. Check this out:

Rubberstamps, diecuts, altered file folder, memory brads etc.

This one is a RAK, the sticky note holders were inside. Love the box!

This cutie bear tin had the memory brads and the sealant for it inside

This very festive and gorgeous gift holder was another gift with all those gifts in it.

Brenda is such a talented artist when it comes to paper engineering. I love all the decorative punches and die cuts, it's quick and easy. That's what drew me to Brenda's blog, http//:sweetasagumdrop, she uses punches and die cuts. The special thing is, she puts it all together in a way that makes things look so festive and/or elegant. Mahalo again Brenda.
Before I forget, I placed an order with Brenda for some SU products a couple of month ago. When I got the products, I also received this beautiful gift box as a thank you gift, but realized I forgot to post it. Here it is:

See what I'm talking about? 

Don't know how she knew Anya was a fav of mine; coinkydynk?
Anyway, you all have a very Merry Christmas. I'll try to post photos of my boxes and tags and cards soon.
Aloha,

Stamp Camp Fun Again

Where can you go when you want to be with other like minds when it comes to papercrafts? Stamp Camp of course, and I did just that. Sunday's camp was full of wonderful creations as soon as you stepped into camp. First of all we received a thank-you favor as we checked in.

This little snowman used to have 3 mini twix bars; I ate them. Thank you Brenda.

Now check out all the fun things we made:

from left top: gift-card holder, tealight holder, gift-tags with organizer, and mini lunch sack for treats

 Here's a closer look

Gift card-holder and mini favor sack

Gift-tags

We all had fun making new friends, ate good food and snacks, won some great gifts, bought new fun products and can't wait for the next camp, which is next year. Thank you to Brenda and Jacque and all the demonstrators at the tables that saw us through our projects correctly, or in my case, helped to correct a big booboo. Hehehe.
Aloha for now,

Earrings Anyone?

Aloha Everyone;
I took a break from sewing to make a few earrings for Christmas gifts . A couple of them I made about a month ago. One is an ear vine/pin. I started making these kinds of earrings about 7 years ago when I first started making jewelry in a serious effort to make some decent money. You know, pay for the craft addiction and then some. Hah!
I love using freshwater pearls in my jewelry, so the others are little danglies on sterling silver and/or 14k rolled gold posts using freshwater pearls with Swarovski crystals. I do use other stones like olive jade, onyx and mother of pearl etc. But don't you agree that these are a quick and easy gift?  Just a thought.

 Hope I can help with gift giving ideas.
Aloha,

Crazy, Beads and Embroidery

Aloha Everyone!
Have you noticed all the Christmas decorations popping up in the shops and stores? The poor turkey is not even defrosted yet! Hehehe.
I guess it's true for us crafters too, to be deep into the Christmas crafting by now, if not almost done.  I have to admit, I'm a little last minute when it comes to getting everything done before the Christmas rush.

Remember this from an older post?

Well, now it's this!

About 7"x 6"

Front

 

Back

This is a fun evening bag to use for the holidays. I do have pockets inside for cell phone and cards. You can see the details better if you click the photos.  I have a Christmas stocking to finish, so I hope to have that up soon.
Aloha,

Becky's Got a Giveaway , Cindy Has a Challenge and Jen's Got Blog Candy Too!

Hey Everyone!
My blogger friend Becky Povich is having a fun giveaway full of great prizes!  She is a wonderful writer and humorist. I love reading her posts. So go blog her way for a visit and enjoy yourself; don't forget to sign up for her giveaway. You can find her at http://beckypovich.blogspot.com

Another friend, Cindy Adkins, has a Creative Spirit Challenge, of which I dared to enter. I love her vintage creations, such beautiful art work. Click over to her blog at http://cindyadkinswhimsical musings.blogspot.com

Still, another give away!  Yes, Jen over at Pieces of Me, is having a 300K visitors give way! I checked out the photo of her lovely prizes, yum! Please go check for yourself, you'll like it! Click here.

OMG  I think I just learned how to link!  Yeah!  I tested the links and they worked!

Aloha for now,

Happy Birthday Brenda!

Aloha everyone!
Brenda from Sweet As Gum Drop will be celebrating her birthday next week! Happy Birthday Brenda! So, in celebration, she is having a birthday giveaway. Stop by at  http://sweetasagumdrop.blogspot.com and enter to win, you won't be sorry.
Aloha for now,

Tealight Tutorial

Things are slowly getting back to a familiar schedule for my household. You know, the cleaning, the GCs coming over and taking control  the house with their toys and  choice of movies. Always fun to watch the interaction with them.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I would have a tutorial on the tealight that I posted a few posts back, so here it is.
I learned how to make this tealight candle cake when I was at BenFranklin Crafts, so I hope Joy and the gang won't mind my creating a tutorial for it.
I love that these little cuties operate on batteries. It's a great project to use  those left over pieces of scrapbook/cardstock scraps. You know us crafters, we don't like to throw much of anything away (I swear, I'm not a hoarder, oh oh. I'm not in denial either.  I mean...Oh forget it).
So, here are the things you'll need:

tealight, 1/2" by 5" strip of paper, 2  2" scallop circles

assorted flower punches and scallop punch

I like to have some pre-punched flowers on hand

double stick tape, snail glue, tacky glue,  foam pad & stylus,scallop template

To start, cut a piece of cardstock 1/2" by5" and add glue of your choice to one long side of strip, then wrap entire strip around your tealight. I used a brown strip of cardstock on my cake so that it would look like chocolate.

I love chocolate

Using the 2 inch scallop circles punch, cut out  2 circles, one is for your frosting and the other is your cake tray/plate.
What helps for the next step is to make a template of the 2"  scallop circle out of any type of paper. I used an expired ad flyer.  I folded it in forths to find the center, then cut a tiny circle of about 3/16". Use this as a template to find the center for your frosting.

my cream cheese frosting

In the above photo, I cut my center circle using the template, then I cut a few tiny slits in the circle so that it can easily fit over the flame of the tealight. So that you can easily smooth the outer edge of the frosting over the side edges, make tiny slit into the indentations of the scallops.

On outer edge, cut tiny slits into scallop indentations

 Now you're ready to attach your frosting to your cake. You can use mini glue dots or tacky glue to glue frosting to the cake. I wanted to do this in a hurry so I used mini glue dots on each scallop.  Pricey cake!

mmmm...cream cheese frosting

 Using the other scallop circle, which is the plate or tray of your cake, hold the circle to the bottom of the tealight and rub your finger on the paper where the light switch is. This will create an indentation of where the switch is. Using a 1/8" hole punch, punch  the indentation a couple of times so that your piece looks like the photo below.

2 hole punches overlapping each other

Glue your tray/plate to the bottom of your cake, making sure the hole you punched clears the light switch.

almost done

 Now the decorations begin. Using whatever flower punches you have, you can punch an assortment of flowers using your scrap cardstock or scrapbook paper. I've seen some gorgeous tealight cakes with ribbon roses too. I used the foam pad and stylus to give some dimension to my flower punches.

just move the stylus in tiny circles or press stylus into each petal

Use tacky glue to adhere flowers and leaves or whatever you want to decorate your cake.

 I think there's a Bigz three-tier cake diecut. This tealight cake would look great as the topper.

 Aloha for now,





                                    

Aloha e Mama

Aloha Oukou;
We have finally said our last goodbye to my husband's mother and put her to rest with her husband,siblings and her ancestors. She's had a long journey (90 yrs old), the last year being a painful one from cancer. She had faced this battle twice; the second one took her. We will all miss her, her wisdom, her laugh, her smile, but we will all meet her one day when our life's journey comes to an end. So, aloha `oe Mama, he aloha po`ina `ole. (Aloha to you Mama, a never ending love.)

On the Eve of Halloween

Happy Halloween all you spook-a-holics out there.
My husband and I were lucky enough to be invited to an annual Halloween party with a new costume theme every year. This year was an ethnicity theme and it had to be an ethnicity that we weren't. I am not Japanese, so I went as a Geisha, my husband went as an Arabian. Trying to get from our neighborhood of the island to another was interesting with all the stares from other drivers and their passengers. But, you can see why!

By the way, when these pictures were taken, my husband didn't know he had his costume on backwards! He had to take his costume off and turn it around when we got to the parking lot of the party.

 Of course who'd have thought there would be another exact Arab there! The girl in the middle came up to my husband thinking he was her partner during the course of the evening; she was so good natured and fun. She just said, "Oops, you're not mine."
Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween.
Aloha,