My Inspiration, My Dad, and a Legacy

Spring time is about renewal. It is about moving forward and living life. But I'll be honest, it has been hard to do with a heavy heart.

I lost someone incredibly important to me. The emotions are still very raw and the cut is still deep. There are days where I move forward with the daily grind emotionless, while others are filled with long hours of uncontrollable tears. As you can imagine, I have been struggling with the decision to write and post about my loss in such a public way. But this is a blog about my creative endeavors and the people and things that inspire me. So I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the legacy my Dad left me.

My Dad is the most talented person I know next to my Mom. I've been blessed to have two very talented parents. My Dad was an artist, a photographer, a Chinese brush and English calligrapher, a wood craftsman, a letterpress and layout designer (before modern computer technology), and a banjo musician, to name a few of his talents.

Naturally, as his daughter, I picked up a few things from him having spent many summers at his workshop/office. I am a designer and a maker today because of my Dad.

I have no words to describe how much I miss him. But every time I create something, I know there's a little bit of him that comes out in me and a little bit of him in my creation. While it's tough, being creative has been a nice and therapeutic distraction.

And so, I continue my creative journey...
- KRAFTY pearl

Project Scrapbox Workbox: Installment #2

I've been getting things back in order... both cleaning and organizing around the apartment.

Since I got the Scrapbox Workbox almost two years ago, I've had it neat, tidy, and closed for maybe a total of 5 days. It sits in the middle of my living room and since I'm constantly using this station, I've wanted to add a fabric panel to conceal my mess for quite some time.

But first, I actually had to clean my table top mess to even tackle sewing a fabric panel. Here's the whole transformation via Vine.

Materials used: Ikea fabric, Singer sewing machine, Velcro

Wait, this is Installment #2? Where's Installment #1? Here you go.

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

The National Stationery Show & Vine

I had the pleasure of going to the National Stationery Show this weekend in NYC. Thank you, Krys. And inspired by Etsy's fine Vine motion pictures, I used Vine to quickly capture the day. It is a huge convention and the 6 seconds doesn't nearly capture any of it, but here you go:

I'm so in love with all the letterpress goodness, innovative calendars, and heavy duty stamps from the various vendors. It's totally worth checking out. But remember to wear comfy shoes and bring a tote for all the business card and sample collecting, if you're a serious buyer.

Now a little bit about how I became inspired by Etsy's Vine films. All I had to do was watch these and I saw exactly how creative and beautiful a Vine video can be. It's amazing and I can only imagine how much work and painstaking detail was put into each of these. How could I not be inspired?

Happy scissors, happy confetti!

I wish my supplies would clean themselves up too!
Plus, don't forget, Etsy's Craft Party 2013 is June 20th.

Who knew color pencils could be so much fun!?

Have you been inspired?

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Highlight: Flashy Letters

TGIF! Welcome to the last day of the Mama Elephant design team highlights of the April release. The great minds at ME have, perhaps, saved the very best for last. (Ok, not really because all of the sets are majorly awesome, but this set I'm about to show you one of my favorites and must-haves!)

I created a clean and simple card for m'dear husband. Not to get all sappy, but he is my sunshine and so inspired by golden hues, I stamped a very simple sentiment ombre style. I continued a bit of the ombre design in the stamped hearts as well as punched watercolored hearts just to add a bit of dimension.

Materials used: Mama Elephant Flashy Letters and Central Park (heart); Memento Inks, ColorBox Cat's Eye Queue Inks, heart punch

Here's a closer look at the ombre stamp job:

Now, get on over to the Mama Elephant blog and see what the rest of the design team created with this amazingly versatile set that literally lets you spell and number anything! A must-have for scrapbookers and card makers alike!

Thanks for stopping by!

- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Highlight: Central Park

Hello again! We continue the week of Mama Elephant April release highlights. We're going to take a closer look at the Central Park set today.

The skyline image is absolutely perfect to represent any great city and I just had to use it for a clean and simple card that just simply tells someone "I heart you" from this great city. It's a bit hard to photograph, but each tiny window has also been filled with sparkly glitter along with the heart to give it that extra shiny punch.

Materials used: Mama Elephant Central Park and Hello; Ranger Stickles

Here's a closer look at the sparkly glitter from the Stickles coloring:

Be sure to stop on by the Mama Elephant blog to see what the rest of the design team created with this wonderfully elegant yet urban set:

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Highlight: Bling

Welcome to day two of four days of Mama Elephant April release highlights! You saw my layout using Bling, here. Today, I'm sharing a card. The sentiments and font styles are a perfect combination to tell someone they shine or that your world is brighter because of them.

I created a soft rainbow ribbon over a scalloped sky backdrop by using white embossing powder to create a resist from the watercolor bands.

Materials used: Mama Elephant Bling; watercolor, acrylic hearts from Etsy

Here's a closer look at the watercolor rainbow created to feel like sunset on a Caribbean island.

Be sure to see what the rest of the design team created with Bling on the Mama Elephant blog.

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Highlight: Tree Friends

Hello! Welcome to the first of four days of Mama Elephant April release highlights. We're sharing Tree Friends today. A perfect spring set with a full cherry blossom tree, furry friends silhouette, and just the perfect sentiments to say hello.

I used a combination of Copics and Stickles to color in the tree. I used office ledger cardstock to matte the card and stamped the sentiment on a small shipping tag to playfully contrast with the outdoorsy feel of the images.

Materials used: Mama Elephant Tree Friends; Copics, Ranger Stickles

Here's a closer look at the coloring and the sparkle:

Check out the Mama Elephant blog and see what the rest of the design team created with this lovely set.

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant April Stampede

Welcome to the Mama Elephant April Design Team blog hop! Our April release is now live and available for purchase in the store: www.mamaelephant.com.

To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is giving away 3 gift certificates worth $20.00 each to 3 lucky people! Winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the Stampede. Winners will be announced on the Mama Elephant blog on Friday, April 19th. Here's how to qualify to win (leave a separate comment for each):

1. Leave a comment on this blog post
2. Become a follower of our blog
3. Like/share us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/mamaelephant
4. Follow/tweet about us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heymamaelephant

Here's my layout using Bling! I adore this set and it totally reminds me of Rihanna's "shine bright like a diamond" lyrics. The sentiments are perfect for a stacked title block - Shine bright, Bling, Sparkle and Shine, Bling, Sparkle and Shine!

Materials used: Mama Elephant Bling; SEI papers, Shipping Tag

Your next jump is the talented JJ Bolton! If you're lost, here's the order of the Stampede and you can always start from the beginning on the Mama Elephant blog. Happy stampeding!

• Kryssi Ng / Mama Elephant http://www.mamaelephantblog.com/
• Lisa Spangler (guest designer!) http://sideoatsandscribbles.wumple.com/
• Mariana Grigsby http://marianagrigsby.wordpress.com/
• Lea Lawson http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/
• Alice Wertz http://aliceslittlewonderland.blogspot.com/
• Elena Roussakis (guest designer!) http://justmeprints.blogspot.ca/
• Geralyn Sy http://inacreativebubble.blogspot.com/
• Savannah O'Gwynn http://savannahland2.blogspot.com/
• Cheiron Brandon http://www.cheironbrandon.typepad.com/
• Pamela Ho (guest designer!) http://fishydesign.wordpress.com/
• Jenn Biederman http://createdbyjb.typepad.com/
• Pearl Lui http://kraftypearl.blogspot.com/ (you're here)
• JJ Bolton http://jjbolton.org

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Sketch Challenge!

Hi there! I'm excited to share a Mama Elephant Sketch Challenge. The Sketch Challenge will run two weeks, April 1st - April 14th. Mama Elephant is looking for two winners who will each receive 2 sets of stamps from an upcoming release! Winners will participate in our monthly Stampede along with the Design Team and be featured on the Mama Elephant blog throughout the month with their projects using our stamps. How exciting!

Here's how to play: Create a project using the sketch. You must use a Mama Elephant stamp and/or the free digital stamp. Post the challenge graphics on your blog post. Link back to the Mama Elephant blog post. You may enter as many times as you wish! And finally, the deadline to enter is April 14, 2013 at 3:00PM EST.

For all details, visit the Mama Elephant blog now!

Here's the sketch:

Here's my take on the sketch:

Materials used: Mama Elephant Lovely Mums and Hello; SEI pattern paper, Kaisercraft Sparklets

Here's a closer look:

I love the faint Lovely Mums in the background which is a little hard to photograph but looks subtly bright on kraft. I also added glitter confetti sparkles trailing upward from the sentiment.

Get on to the Mama Elephant blog now to enter the challenge today!

Thanks for stopping by!

- KRAFTY pearl

SEI Spotlight: Laughter

Hi thereI was over at the SEI blog yesterday sharing a wedding inspired layout. Head on over to the SEI blog and see how it all came together.

Materials used: SEI Mia Bella, Think of Me, Field Notes, Promise Me; tissue paper, sequins

Here's a closer look at some of the details:

Make sure you stop by the SEI blog for all the details and to see what the rest of the design team has been creating!

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl