Sunday, December 1, 2013

Matchbox Advent Calendar!

December begins...  yippee! 

I have been seeing tons of advent calendars on pinterest and I decided to make my own matchbox calendar.  Originally I wanted to have them on some kind of board or large cookie tray...but I realized I couldn't find something to work and so I was just going to have to adjust it to suit my home.  Instead, I decided to make a double-garland type calendar punching holes in one side of the box that pulls out.  At first, I was worried the boxes would just fall out because off the weight of the candy.  But they seem to be holding alright.  Check out more pics at the end of this post!

Step one:  Cover the boxes.  I laid my matchbox down and measured all sides on a piece of paper and left a little extra to tuck unde
r on the back.  It turned out I could use 6x6 squares easily.  If the papers are doubled-sided, that means you can use on of each side from only one sheet!  I'm a big fan of saving paper.  I used the MME 12 Days of Christmas paper pad.  It comes with 12 double-sided sheets.  Meaning 24 different matchboxes!  :)  Use any adhesive you like.

Step two:  Punch holes on one side of the pull-out box.  I used the smaller punch hole from my cropadile.   Use all your leftover scraps of ribbon and trim to make loops that you will use to hang the boxes.  This is a great way to be thrifty and get rid of some pesky pieces you do no want to part with!  If the piece is too short to tie, you can staple it or adhere it with tape, etc.

Step three:  Decorate!  This is the fun part.  I mixed up my numbers with thickers and stickers.  The only thing is some alphas do not come with numbers.  :(  But I had a big collection to choose from.   Point to note:  Line up your boxes in the order you would like so you don't have the matching colours next to one another when you go to string them up.  I put a ton of snowflakes from the leftover paper pieces using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch.  And I found bit and pieces that would look nice on my boxes.  I was going for simple and cute. 

Step four:  Cut two pieces of string, twine, etc.  the same length.  Tie loop knots on each end and pin up.  I wanted my boxes to be moveable and not have the loop stuck on the base line.  So I used tiny clothespins (I knew there was a good use for these!)  and mixed up the colours.  If you are worried about the ribbons being too matchy, just switch out inner boxes. 

Step five:  Add the candy.  My boxes were filled with chocolate santas, snowmen, milky caramels, chocolate-filled marshmallows, and ramune.  If you have children, you can add little toys (like the kinds you buy for parties) or other things like hair ties, etc. 

What do you use for your advent calendar?  Let me know! 

Be sure to check out my video below: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmK_PfUqad4












This is how many matches I had after it all!


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Pretty Jeweled Candies

I found these at Seria on Monday, Arent they pretty? And only 100 yen each. Dont they remind you of goosebumps? That is how I get when I see these, anyways.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Japanese Wedding Envelopes

Hi, everyone!
Hope you are having a nice weekend!
Hideki and I went to a wedding yesterday for his niece.  It was such a nice time.  They have the custom of giving money in an envelope as a wedding gift.  (You can't just buy them something...)  Because Hideki and I aren't officially married (although it seems like it sometimes...lol), we gave separate envelopes.  I bought a really cute envelope that is less traditional and I made another one that was really untraditional.

Here are the pictures side by side:






Usually Japanese write their down on the front, like Hideki has done.  I didn't want to put my name on the front, instead I added a sentiment.  I added my name on the back.  Either one is cute and crafty, I think.  

I do like the traditional ones, like:
Paper cord, paper flowers, embossed paper.  A Japanese folded paper envelope to hold a gift of money.
Photo from Pinterest - search Japanese wedding envelope

For more information on gift-giving and envelopes in Japan, go to the site where this photo came from: 

Till next time!

Craft items:  Copics, Japanese paper, Doily from Seria (100 yen store), TGF I Do, Martha Stewart Glitter, Glossy Accents, MFT Sweet Stack Dienamics and Big Greetings Stamp Set. 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

SSS Card June Card Kit


Hi, everyone!  ...I know...way overdue, huh?  Well, better late than never I say!

Here are the cards I created with the kit from Mariko!  Also feel free to check out my video on YouTube below.  















And the videos - 
Completed Cards: 
Process Tidbits: 

Thanks and have a great summer!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Update :)

Hi, ladies and gents!
   It's been a while.  But I am back with an update.  Not a lot of scraptime lately, but I do a little once in a while.  Today I did a whole bunch of cardmaking, but that will come in a later post...

   On other news, not much to report. Busy with running and started going to Japanese class again. I can run six kilometers with my ipod shuffle keeping a good pace for me.  This week I felt really tired and slept ten hours one night.  Wow! Then I felt much better today.

   The most exciting thing happened yesterday.  I met Mariko, a.k.a. CHIBICHIBIANDMILO, and her husband Tatsu. They were down for a wedding and had just enough time to meet me before heading back to Hokkaido.  I had so much fun! And it felt like we were old friends!  Thank you so much for meeting with me! Looking forward to meeting again.  Until next time...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Hooray for my first 5K!

So I know I have not posted in a while...but I have been busy with a lot of different things.  The most recent being my participation in a 5K marathon.  I am happy to say I finished and did not come in last!  (^_^)v  I had some major sunburn and I was majorly sore the next couple of days (because I was unable to properly stretch afterwards due to the sand blowing across the grounds).  Check out my finish photo below.


The weather was so nice.  It was cloudy in the morning, but quickly turned into a bright day.  Luckily, a nice breeze made up for it.  After I finished, I met another participant and she invited me to go have a drink with her and friends.  The best way to celebrate after a big run, they say.  I was able to get some good advice from veteran runners and it inspired me to go for a 10K next time.  It will be the perfect way to celebrate my 10-year Japanniversary this fall!  Wish me luck and here's to the next 6 months of training, hard work, and discipline!        

Thursday, February 21, 2013

BG February 2013 Desktop Calendar

Hi, Everyone!  I know it's almost the end of February...but I wanted to share Basic Grey's desktop calendar with you.

You can download it here.  All I had to do was save it, open it, and set it as the desktop background.  I always look forward to seeing the new monthly calendar and maybe you will too.

I {heart} Basic Grey!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Live a Little, Love a lot

This year's Valentine's card that I gave to my sweetie was so much fun to put together.  I had a lot of fun just colouring the images with my copics.  The only idea I had in mind was this Greeting Farm stamp set, Oliver & Amelia - Lovey Dovey .  I knew it would be kinda masculine but still cute... 


I love using my Fiskars Stamp Press, especially when I stamp my TGF images.  It really helps them get even coverage.  I hate messing up when stamping the images because the paper can be expensive.  

Here are the colours I used for colouring skin.  It was my first time using the E30,31 (I used it on Oliver) and I like how it turned out.  I just added some E01 to make him look a little bit more pink.



Here they are with their skin coloured. 


Next I went on to hair.  For Amelia, I used E21, 23, 27, and 29.  I used a feathering technique going from lightest to darkest.

Here is the image with E21 and 23.


Then I added the E27 at the darkest places, like roots, and parts that should be shaded.


Lastly, I added E29 at the very darkest places.  


After that, I all do is used the lighter colours to blend out the darker colours and create nice shine.  It's hard not to overdo it (the blending, that is)...but I am very happy with the finished hair.  She is just so gosh darn cute, isn't she?  {Why can't my hair be like that??}


The copics on the left are the ones used for Amelia.  I only used the two on the right, E44 and E49 for Oliver.


He totally looks like he's wearing denim, doesn't he?  So that's what I decided to go with anyways...  Like my hair, I just coloured lightest to darkest with the darkest part being the seams and shaded parts.   


Here he is with some blending...


Here were the copics I used:


So she had to wear matching denim with sweet pink hearts.  :)  


And then he got a matching tie.  It's pink with a red heart.  <3


I carefully secured the spellbinder by attaching tape to the die and the outer paper (not the finished image) before running them through my Vagabond.  I am freakishly scared of gunk getting on my finished images, so as a rule, I always, always put a piece of note paper or copy paper overtop to prevent my just completed imaged from getting ruined.


I cut out matching denim paper and added some red and white baker's twine.


Of course, I added stickles to the hearts.  Iridescent for her and red for him.  


I tied a small heart heart (leftover from a die-cut) with a bow and did a small note with my copic multi-liner.


If you hadn't already guess, the boy is supposed to represent my *honey* (isn't he cute, lol)...


and this is *ME*...heehee.

A peek of the inside.  Just using up leftover die-cuts.  This stamp comes with the stamp and it was perfect.

I absolutely love you for checking out my blog post.  Wishing some kindness and love for the whole month of February.  

Products Used:
Stamp:  TGF, OA - Lovey Dovey
Copics:  Skin - E000,00,01,02,30,31; Hair - 21,23,27,29,44,49; Clothing - B34, 37, 39, C1, 3, 5, RV19, RV29
Other:  Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Stain, Owl Supply Baker's Twine, PTI Heart Border, Fiskars Punch, Spellbinders Labels 8, Fiskars Easy Stamp Press, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stickles