Love My New Teesha Moore Doll Stamps

I recently purchased some new rubber stamps from Teesha Moore and I just love them!

I went to town coloring them in with my Copic and white pens.

I love how she uses text as part of the patterns for the clothes.

I stamped the images using the Memento black ink pad...I highly recommend it when coloring with Copic markers since the ink doesn't smear.

I wish I could find some of these outfits in stores...I'd buy them. :-)

The Teesha Moore stamps come unmounted, so you might want to mount them to some cling form. I store my mounted stamps in these clear plastic storage cases by Kompac - love them.

 I stamp the images for the box cover too so you know what's inside.

After I have a bunch of dolls colored and cut, I then take them over to my printer/copier and make copies of them in different sizes to use for future projects. I love the smallest ones which I reduced at 60%.

I have lots of cutting to do. I hope to make some cards and tags with these adorable girls. 

I also have to share this amazing 4th of July surprise cake my daughter made this week. It's only 4" in diameter.

It's a surprise cake, cause when you cut out a slice you see a surprise design inside.

You cake watch her video of how to make it here on her Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veOQggWrUPA

Have a great weekend!

How To A Make Money Lei

My sister and I decided to take on the project of making a money lei for my son's high school graduation.

I knew what I wanted it to look like, but finding the right leaves with a long narrow shape wasn't easy. His school colors are purple and white.

Here's how we made it. We started by taking leaves off of an artificial long flower vine.

Then we shaped the leaves into a long narrow shape by cutting them with scissors. 

Then we made about 20 origami leaves from one dollar bills. Here's a good site that gives details on how to make the leaf: http://www.make-origami.com/money-leaf.php. 

Next, we strung the green leaves together with some green yarn.

Here's the lei with just leaves....

In between the long narrow leaves, we filled in with some other leaves with different shapes to make it fuller. Next we tied some purple flowers around the lei using narrow purple and white ribbon.

Finally we tied on the origami shaped dollar bills. Here's my son with his lei on...

 Nowadays, most kids have some sort of lei on during the graduation ceremony, so I was happy we made one for him and I love how it came out. This is now the second money lei we've made...here's the post to the first one we made for our niece's son: http://artfulplay.blogspot.com/2012/05/money-lei-for-graduation-ceremony.html

Hope you decide to make one too for someone special!

Reasons To Celebrate

Some exciting news to share today! I received my complementary issue of Somerset Life for having my washi tape box published.

I'm always so thrilled to see any of my projects in a magazine. What a fun project this was covering a shadow box with different types of tissue tape, and then filling the compartments with special trinkets.

To see more details of this box, see my post here: http://artfulplay.blogspot.com/2013/01/washi-tape-shadow-box.html. Also, my friend, Connie Freedman was also published for her Jewelry Box project in the same issue - congrats!

My sister, Diana, was inspired from the washi tape box and just created the box below - it's awesome, just love it!

Next, I'm so proud of my 15 year old daughter, Rachel. She has just reached 40,000 subscribers on her own YouTube channel with over 100 videos: KawaiiSweetWorld...Woo-hoo!!! 

She features baking and crafting videos, and started the channel  just a few years ago. It's just grown so rapidly - it's amazing! 

Rachel also performed this past weekend in a dance show doing a total of 6 tap, hip-hop, and jazz numbers. These were her costumes:

I loved her outfits - it was fun performance to watch and I'm so proud of her too!

Thanks to Stampington and my daughter's creativity and hard work - just reasons to be happy!

My Son - Class of 2013!

I can't believe how time flies...this weekend my son, Christopher, graduated from high school and will be going to UC Davis in the fall...we're so proud of him!

It was a beautiful day for the graduation ceremony.

Chris & his proud parents

Chris with sister Rachel

Chris with his Auntie Lana

Chris with good friend Michael

What a wonderful ceremony it was and one major milestone completed...congrats Chris - we love you! On a side note, my sister Frances and I made Chris's money lei that he's wearing...I'll show in another post the steps we did to make it.

Now, on to the next holiday. Today being Father's Day, making a fresh strawberry cream cake was on my agenda - it's my husband's favorite dessert.

 It took me all morning to bake, but I think it came out great, hopefully it will taste good too!

What a great start to the summer...here's to Grads and Dads! Have a great week!

Altered Doll Workshop

This weekend I taught an Altered Doll Workshop at my house. We created dolls from Tim Holtz plastic fragments, domino pieces and miniature furniture.

We had a great time creating together. I love that most of my sisters joined in as well...they're so creative and fun to be with.

Here are some close up pictures of everyone's creations. My sister Diana had to leave early, so she created just two pieces. Love her crushed tissue skirt.

Below is a picture of my sister Maryl's creations. She's always the first one to finish. Her projects are adorable, I love the touch of her vintage flower she added. The doll on the left is made from a miniature furniture bed.

My good friend, Lois created the cute dolls below. She has such a good eye to know when an embellishment is just right!

I also love the dolls my good friend Ruby made below. I love the attitude of doll on the right with her leg just slightly bent - too cute!

My sister Frances made the dolls below. The doll in the middle is made from a miniature sink turned upside down - my favorite! Love the lace and wings on the domino doll as well.

And last but not least, my sister Lana created this whimsical necklace from one of Tim Holtz fragments. She started a few other dolls, but this one she finished and it's oh so cute!

One new addition from my sister, Diana. She went home and took some supplies to make the miniature furniture doll, since she didn't have time to stay and create another one. I just have to share with you what she came up with from a miniature cabinet, so creative - love it!

I have another post class altered doll to share. Ruby also took some supplies to make one of the envelop dolls at home and it came out so adorable...below is a picture of what she created.

What a fun day we had creating together. Sorry, our good friend Laura was sick and wasn't able to make it and our other good friend Nily had to attend her daughter's ballet recital - we missed you both!

Have a great week!