New Mini Tags - "Footloose"

This week, I was able to sneak in a hour or so to do something creative. I decided to make these fun little tags with legs.

I purchased some 7Gypsies mini tags from Joann's. They were so cute, I love the designs on them and couldn't wait to make something with them. Each tag measures 1" x 2 3/4".

I started by adding legs to each tag. I almost felt like stopping there, because they already had such character.

But, I decided to use my little bits and pieces and collage each tag a bit more.

 I added different types of heads to each tag and then added other embellishments like numbers...

 and little quotes...

 and pieces of black and white stripped paper

Then I usually take out my favorite white pen and finish with some doodling. I hope you give these little tags a try...they're quick to do and helps use up some of your small embellishments. Enjoy!

Paper Dolls From Shannon

Hi guys, I haven't been doing any crafting lately...I'm so bummed. All my spare time has been devoted to getting my son ready for college, taking my daughter back and forth to her activities, getting some property in order for rental, and preparing for a much needed vacation. It's been a lot of work, but I try to be optimistic and see it as exercise haha!
While I don't have any new projects to show, I'd love to share some adorable paper dolls made by Shannon Benedetti. Shannon is also a big fan of Catherine Moore stamps and she has made some fun paper dolls that she shared with me. 

I love all the accessories she added.

The picture below was a thank you note tag in which she included some doll pieces for the recipient to make their own doll...what a great idea!

Hope you had a great weekend and had some time to do some creating unlike me!

New Journal Page

Lately, I've been watching lots of YouTube videos on journaling. I love the style of Teesha Moore's journals and with her dolls stamps I recently purchased, I made this journal page in my kraft notebook.

I used some of the reduced copies of the dolls that I had colored. Can you find them all (8 girls on this page total)? Anyhow, it was just something I wanted to try...but I have many more ideas to work on. I've been buying lots of stencils and Dylusions Ink sprays that I can't wait to play with too!

On another note, have you ever wanted a really good white ink pad? I've tried many, and I think Stephanie Barnard finally came out with a great one (exclusive to her site). She partnered with ColorBox and developed a great white ink that never fades over time.

For the houses on my journal page, I stamped some words (from 7Gypsies) using the white ink and grey paper. Then I cut out house shapes from the stamped pages.

As always, so much to do and so little time. We've been very busy lately with home projects/family & friend gatherings, and I haven't had much time to craft. We also have a long awaited vacation coming up soon, so I won't have much free time these next couple weeks to do much crafting either - I'll have so save up my ideas for later.

Have a great week everyone!

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!