Seashell Clock and Happy Birthday Colleen (early)

My friend Colleen's bathroom has the nicest seashell wall paper. She and I made, a long time ago, a little dish of shells using a large scallop shell as the dish and all sorts of shells she had collected on various beach trips. Then I sort of got the seashell bug and have been contemplating other homemade seashell fun for her bathroom. Here is a clock I stamped and decorated for her birthday coming up soon. I think it turned out mighty fine, don't you?

Motto for the day: Live Laugh Love

My First Stampscapes Experience!

I went to a class at Stampers Warehouse in Danville, CA a couple of weekends ago with a stamping buddy, Carol. We made 4 really amazing pieces with Stampscapes stamps. The instructor, Brian Miner, was great and I learned so much!


I'm excited because I have two friends who have a handful of these types of stamps and I plan on making a bunch of scenes. More to come on that one... So for the ingredients: For the three cards, we used Marvy Uchida Dye Ink and Qtips or those oval sponge daubers that have purple handles (name??). The Old Mill up River scene was made with 7 different stamps. The Wolf spirit in the sky was made with 3 stamps. The Lighthouse was made with 3 stamps. And the little one with the moon peeking out from behind the clouds was made on Stampboard (ceramic covered board), stazon ink, and using 3 stamps.

Thanks for looking!

Kicking Back at the Old Number 9

Here Edwin and Tilda are enjoying their little house and cat under the Wisteria. The stone wall was made by me. I just love their overalls, don't you? TFL!

Dreaming by the Wishing Well

This is my card I sent to a Sharon, a fellow Magnolia lover over at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAGNOLIA-licious/ as a RAK (and sort of for our January Mingle). I'll put a link to her awesome blog of cards and more cards over there on the right (it's http://grammashouseofcards.blogspot.com/). The rules were pink, red, white. So... I had Tilda sitting by the wishing well down by the duck pond. I cut the purse out of Traveling Tilda's hands and put a heart in its place. I drew the rest of the stone path, the hillside on the right, and the grass. The pond scene, Tilda, and the bench are Magnolia. The cattails are by Stampendous. The little Valentine hedgehog (possum?) is Stampin Up and I forget who made the "Be Happy" (I've long since unmounted it). The Wishing Well is part of a wonderful stamp set by Gina K Designs. (Here's a link to the Gina K Make a Wish set: http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/ProductDetail?ProductDetail.SKU=6-758-448193&ProductDetail.ListIndex=1) Thanks for looking!

Camping Edwin + Italy Traveling Tilda

So, I'm continuing my theme of drawing what is missing. I think I've come to realize two things in this... 1) I don't need to buy word stamps (my handwriting is pretty good) and 2) I can draw basic landscapes pretty well. My Copics Multi-liner pen (.35mm) is the key to my drawing.


For my Camping Edwin card, I envisioned this boy and his dog as camping troopers. Then I made an ink mistake on his forehead which led to the bandaids. I tried to smudge him up a bit, but think he needs a dash more. His yellow scarf was to attempt (underline attempt) to make a Cub Scout scarf to cover his tie. (He’s the only Edwin I have.) I had no model for the scarf, so my apologies to the Cub Scout organization for my artistic interpretation. I made the "Enjoy the Moment" banner wrinkled by using 3 pop up dots. Looks cooler IRL (in real life). The tent is from Stampin’ Up, Edwin and the dog are Magnolia, the fire and marshmallows came to me unmounted and are unknown, I forget where the "Enjoy the Moment" stamp came from, and the rock he sits on and the grass and background bramble were drawn by me!

For my Traveling Tilda card, I wanted to have a Venice cityscape and the little Italian bridge with the Gondolier. But my drawing hasn’t advanced there yet, and I think I need to see some more pics of Venice before I’ll attempt that. I used Stampin’ Up pens to color most of her clothing. I love the warmth of Real Rust, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Almost Artichoke, etc. The bridge, gondolier, and lampposts are A Muse, Tilda is Magnolia, and the bridge extension, stone walls, grass, water lines, and suitcase were again, drawn by me! So I toast to myself and say, in my best Italian, "molto ben fatto!"

OH… A WORD ABOUT HOW TO POST A COMMENT: a lot of people say posting here is hard. Here’s what you gotta do… Click on the (Click here to view and post comments) thing at the end of each post. Scroll down to the bottom of the list of comments (if there are any (ROFL)). Write your comment. Then to post it, sign in if you are one of the IDs listed: Google/Blogger, Open ID, Name/URL, Anonymous). (I just use my Google ID). Type in the weird word for security and hit the button that says "Publish Your Comment". If you don’t want to sign in, you can post as Anonymous, just put your name at the end of your message if you want me to know who you are (and I do!).

So.... keep on creating! It’s cheaper than therapy and has an end result! ~Makani

Homemade Mountains + Valentine Riley

Still working on drawing to add to my stamped images. The trees in the foreground are Magnolia Stamps and Riley the Moose is from Hanna Stamps. ALL the rest is by ME! Yes, snowcapped mountains (I imagined Mount Shasta in CA), the birds in the sky, the little trees on the horizon, the mountain road, the blades of grass, the words, and the trail of hearts behind our trailblazing Riley!

Lots of fun! Hope it inspires y'all out there too!

~Makani

Ramblin Riley and Rural Lemonade Stand Tilda

Tonight's masterpieces involved lots of new techniques. So much fun! I plan on taking a class on Stampscapes at Stampers Warehouse in Danville in February... so... I think I'm in the mood for landscapes. I also still am playing with my Copics-like markers as much as I can... so I used them on both of these pieces.

Riley the Rambling Moose is driving along the countryside (feels like Point Reyes, CA area, don't you think?). And check out those clouds in the sky! (Marvy Oval Scallop Punch, light blue sponged on ink, layered). Thank you Tracy, teacher at Cranberry Hill (Sunnyvale) and at Stampers Warehouse. You like the zig-zaggy yellow lines in the grass and on the car? I do.... yellow first, then color over it but leave an area still yellow. The word DREAM is a rectangle that I made into a box with some extra lines and dots here and there.
(Riley- Hanna Stamps, Dream- G-rated Stamps, Hills and Pond- Magnolia Stamps)

Tilda Selling Lemonade in the Woods is a masterpiece for me because I took the challenge put out by Marianne Walker (http://ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/) to doodle and draw as well as stamp and color. First, I drew a mouth and nose (YAY! she has a face now!!) Then, I drew the boxes. I used little wood grain pieces of lumber stamps from my Carpenter Ants set (G-Rated Stamps). Then, I drew the lemonade pitcher and glasses! (I was feeling very talented at this point). I also drew the outline for the far away mountains (color combination was a green and a blue to make that darker green mountain). I had a boo boo, though, smack in the middle of the page on the back mountains. One of the caps on my wanna-be Copic Markers fell off and the fat tip was dried at first but now is darker and streakier and I forgot about that before I trashed the mountain top. The Copic-like blender pens came somewhat to the rescue. Oh well, c'est la vie. (Tilda and Trees- Magnolia Stamps, DREAM, Wood, grass- G-Rated Stamps, Mushrooms- Stampendous) (Copic like markers- ShinHan Touch, Pantone Tria, and Letraset Promarker)

Happy stamping and creating! ~Makani

I went to my friend Jody's house for a girl's night out and brought my stamping gear. She made a valentine for her hubby (can't show it 'cause it's a secret for him) and I made this. Stamps are from the In Full Bloom set by Stampin Up, the pink die cut is the Top Note from Stampin Up and the embossed dots are with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Pop up dots under the flower parts only to make them look like a bouquet popping out. TFL!

Okay, I'm a plebe. (That's Shakespeare for cheap seats).... I'm going to see Phantom of the Opera tomorrow and just can't get to sleep. Too excited! So I thought I'd post another wonderful masterpiece for the 6 people who might be reading this blog. These were made with cookie cutters and Femo clay (I combined colors to get the brown gingerbread color) Then I pressed one of those Ikea tealight candles into them before cooking.... so they make perfect holiday tealight candle holders. Thank you Gold Canyon candle company for the idea in their catalog. Hugs all around, on me. M