A Punny Waterfall card

I made this Happy Bird-day waterfall card for a special little girl who I have known since she and Ken were just months old. Her mother, Anna, and I met at a local hospital group for new moms back in 2003 and became good friends. She moved to Reno and we have managed to stay in touch over the years. Although we see each other several times throughout the year, I wish we lived closer, seeing how she has two girls who are just weeks younger than each of my two boys and we all get along so well. Anyways, this one is for Emily M.



Ink used for image: Going Gray, Bordering Blue, Almost Amethyst, Sage Shadow



Ink used for image: Going Gray, Lavender Lace, Gable Green, Pixie Pink



Ink used for image: Going Gray, Barely Banana


Ink used for image: Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip




Waterfall Cards Tutorial

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Going Gray, Regal Rose, Bordering Blue, Almost Amethyst, Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace, Gable Green, Pixie Pink, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, Chocolate Chip
Eyelets: Soft Subtles II - Lavender Lace
Brad: Soft Subtles - Pretty in Pink (to hold down the ribbon)
Ribbon: Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain
Jumbo Wheel: Whimsy
Other supplies used: Crop-A-Dile (for eyelets), 1/16" hole punch (for brad, Aqua Painter

I hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend, Emily!

Anna... this is for you!
Through the years, my dear friend...

Ever the inquisitive child!


Baby's got blue eyes like a deep blue sea...


Do you remember just how big Ken was? lol!


Tried to get away again, I see!


Now here's the plan...


Two years old (May 2005)


Three years old (August 2006)


Four a half years old (October 2007) - Some things don't change!


So grown up!


I can not wait to see you in May!

love,
Jane

There was a leprechaun in my home!

I had to go back and retrieve these photos from my camera to share with you a certain leprechaun that I found causing all sorts of trouble in my home on St. Patrick's Day (yes, I do realize it was a week ago). LOL! I have quite a bit of catching up to do.

The Dizzy Funland that took me at least an hour to put together the night before was found in pieces all over the kitchen floor.




The leprechaun got to my craft table!




I finally cornered him in the family room when he was trying to dismantle the Shake and Go tracks.




Here is the leprechaun who will grant me my wish!



This reminded me of a precious Leprechaun poem I used to use in my classroom...
Here's a wee present for you
Full of luck and wishes
Celebrate this St. Patrick's Day
With these Leprechaun Kisses!

My wee little Keiji had lots of little leprechaun kisses for me that day. :)

Thank you for letting me share this with you.

Cheers!
Jane

A baby on the way!

My husband's sister (Kari) and her husband (Shawn) are expecting their first baby August 20th! A baby girl! I am just so happy and excited for them! I wanted to wait until everyone knew what they were having before posting the big announcement here. I guess you never know who reads this stuff. lol! Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS!

In honor of Kari's baby shower, I wanted do something special for Kari, so I found this Onesie Card Tutorial by Lauren Meader and made this onesie baby shower invitation:



with all my love,
Aunt Jane

Cards for Emily

My neighbor, up the street, had to send his 6 yr old Emily to Lucile Packard Hospital at Stanford over the weekend for testing due to complications with her breathing. It turns out that Emily had a collapsed lung and the CAT scan showed a mass around the size of a apple in her medial stinal cavity. The final news was that Emily has T Cell Lymphoma. On March 12th, Emily started her two years of chemotherapy. She's so young, but that's a good thing in her case. With her age and the type of cancer, the odds for remission is good. It still hurts so to hear of the news. She is such a ray of sunshine!

Will you help me brighten up her hospital room by sending her a card or two? Emily would love getting happy mail from all over and her parents would appreciate it so very much. It doesn't have to be hand made! If you read my blog and you are not a stamper, please feel free to pick up a card and send it off to Emily. It's still happy mail to this precious little girl. Emily likes pink, purple, blue, and she likes cats and dogs.

UPDATE: Good news! Emily is coming home from the hospital just in time for St. Patrick's Day! She just might catch a Leprechaun or two in that Leprechaun trap of hers!
Please email me if you would like her home address. I am sure your cards will be much appreciated. We all love happy mail!

If anything, please send up prayers and happy thoughts to the Pepper family and Emily.

love and hugs!



** Update **
Tracy and Chris have created a blog for Emily.
Please take a moment to send her some hugs.
Updates on Emily

Happy 5th Birthday, Ken!

My boy is 5! FIVE!! I can hardly believe it.

Five years ago I held my first born in my arms. Today, I can hardly hold him because he is so big! lol!

Here's a trip down memory lane.



First Birthday Invitation:


First Birthday Cakes:


First Birthday Cake Picture:


Second Birthday Pull-Apart Cupcakes:


Second Birthday Bowling Cake:


Future Bowler:


Third Birthday Bowling Cake:


He got his bowling birthday party!


Happy 4th Birthday!


Ken's 5th Birthday Cake:


I can't believe he's FIVE!


Happy birthday, bug! I love you!

Wild about Wasabi! Wild about Wheels!

For $3.95 you can get 16 sheets of 4-1/2" x 11-1/2" Wild Wasabi textured cardstock that has been scored at 1-1/8" and 5-5/8". There is no limit to how many you can order! These cute notecards will be available until April 30th.

Here's one I made for the March Hostess Club workshop. It was inspired by my dear friend, Stephanie's awesome Wasabi Notecard Samples.



Two step stampin' was done on the front flap. The bold stamp from "A Good Egg" stamp set was inked up in VersaMark. The outline stamp was inked up in Wild Wasabi. Using the 3/16" corner rounder with the guard removed, I created a scalloped edge. The front panel of the notecard was decorated with the outline flowers from "A Good Egg" stamp set, inked up in VersaMark. 1-1/4" x 4-1/4" strip of DSP (Summer Picnic) was glued to a 1-3/8" x 4-1/4" strip of Barely Banana cardstock. Chocolate Chip Twill ribbon was wrapped around the base of the cardstock, threaded through the ribbon slider, and double knotted. It was all glued to a 2" x 4-1/4" strip of Bashful Blue cardstock, which was then attached to the middle of the notecard, under the flap. Using the Crop-A-Dile, I punched a hole on each side with the small hole punch. I used eyelets from Soft Subtles II. A sheet of 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" Very Vanilla cardstock was inserted inside the notecard. A few of my hostess club ladies opted to stamp flowers or a chick or a bunny on the Very Vanilla cardstock.


And a quick reminder that the end of Sale-A-Bration is fast approaching! You have until Monday to qualify for a free Sale-A-Bration product. To say thanks to my many blog visitors, I will be posting a chance for you to get one of the Sale-A-Bration sets, "Merci" or "Friendship Blooms". Stay tuned for more next week after Sale-A-Bration ends!

Get ready to wheel your way into Spring! Starting on March 28th, SU! will begin their "Free Wheelin'" Promotion where preselected stamp sets will come with the coordinating wheel for FREE! And guess what? I can share this information with you NOW! lol! I asked. They said it was fine. :)

# 112848 Wonderful You ~ Stems & Silhouettes jumbo wheel $ 33.95
# 112851 Life's A Breeze ~ Something Fishy jumbo wheel $ 29.95
# 112850 Pun Fun ~ Sweet Stars jumbo wheel $ 30.95
# 112847 Year After Year ~ See You Around jumbo wheel $ 30.95
# 112849 Stitched Exotics ~ It's Beautiful jumbo wheel $ 33.95
# 112853 Enjoy Every Moment ~ Daisy Dash jumbo wheel $ 29.95

Occasions Mini Catalog is now available! If you have not received a copy, contact me today and I will get one mailed to you right away. I can not get enough of the Tart & Tangy stamp set! I even treated myself to a "hidden Mickey" cherry purse while shopping at Downtown Disney. I'll have to post a picture of it. It's really cute.

Cheers and happy stampin'!
Jane

Disney Day 1

Oh, happy day! I LOVE Disneyland! We had a fantastic time!
Here are a few pictures I wanted to share before I have to log off.

T-shirts from Auntie Carolina... they refused to take these shirts off all day... even after it got so cold that I had to put on long sleeved shirts and then put these t-shirts over the other shirts!:




LOOK!! Keiji did it! He was finally able to ride the bumper cars in A Bugs Life at California Adventures!



Family Photo Op:



Cheers!
Jane

We made it!

We made it to Anaheim safely! We left San Jose at noon (long story) and traffic was bumper to bumper once we made it closer to Pasadena. I'm starting to nod off here so I'll log off in a short bit and go crawl into bed with Keiji.

We will be heading over to Disneyland tomorrow and Monday. Then we have a week long JANBA (Japanese American National Bowling Association) bowling tournament in Fullerton... less than 10 minutes from Disneyland!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Jane

Let's Rock 'n Roll!

I made this card for my dear friend, Carolina, whose grandfather passed away on Saturday.



I used the "Rock and Roll" technique.
It's a technique I use all the time. It's so quick and easy to do. All you need are at least two colors to work with.

Always remember to work with your light colored ink pad first!
You do NOT want to get dark ink stains on your light ink pads!

I will show you how I made the flower in the front with the word "heart" on it.


Stamp set: Holidays & Wishes
Ink pads: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate
Punch: 1-1/4" Circle Punch
Accessories: Sponge Dauber

I am just inking up the word "heart" so I bring the word up to the edge of the lightest colored ink pad (Groovy Guava) and ink it up.



Then I carefully rock the edge top, side, and bottom of the word in the darker colored ink pad (Purely Pomegranate).



Stamp to see the pretty two-toned image you get with this simple technique.



For the flower, I used three colors.


Stamp set: So Many Scallops (Sale-A-Bration)
Ink Pads: So Saffron, Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate
Punch: Scallop Circle Punch

Ink the stamp in the lightest color (So Saffron).



I found that when you "huff" on the stamp when doing this technique, the lighter color tends to pop more. You can see a difference on the rubber before and after I "huffed" on it.

Before:
After:


Here's how I "rock 'n roll" in Groovy Guava:




Here I "rock 'n roll" in Purely Pomegranate:




A bit hard to see the So Saffron, but it is definitely there!



Punch out the flower and the word.



Sponge the edges with the sponge dauber to give the punched edges some dimension.



Happy Stampin'!