More Face Painting!

While I was working for a summer camp in the bay area, I had the opportunity to do face painting for the campers.  Here are some pictures.   

Now that I'm back home, I have to get to work on samples for a Peter Pan themed birthday party coming up in December.  I have a pirate and Peter Pan's garden so far, but I will definitely add more as I go.

  If you would like to see more face painting pictures, please view my posts on August 15th, 2012 and September 2011.

About Lisa H Tran

Baby Shower Diaper Cake in Progress

You know you are getting old when you start to make more and more baby shower diaper cakes each month.  My friends and family members of my generation are welcoming new additions to their family left and right.  It makes me feel sad that I am no where close to getting married or having children, but I am thrilled to be a part of my friends' and relatives' growing families.  

Here is a picture of a boy diaper cake in progress.  Having fun with the hot glue gun and lots of ribbons.

On a brighter note, I just checked my final grades for my summer classes and your girl got a 4.0! There were days when I wanted to give up and settle with B's, because I thought there was no way I can remember hundreds of medical terms plus definitions for every class meeting on top of exams from two other classes and work.  I gave myself no options and accepted the challenge.  At the beginning of the course, my professor did tell my class that we were crazy to take Med Terms in the summer and usually, very few will get an A.  I was determined to be one of the few and made it! Don't ever let anyone discourage you from challenges by scaring you with their past experiences.   

OK, back to my diaper cake-making.  One day...one day when I'm done with this whole school ordeal, I will find myself a special person to form a family, so everyone can make me diaper cakes for a change.

About Lisa H Tran

Daddy's Card

 The day to honor our father has already passed.  It is one of my favorite holidays, because I get to show my dad how much I appreciate and love him.  My dad is such a wonderful person with such a big heart!  I meant to post this card up before Father's Day this year, but I got carried away by academia.  I guess you can make this next year for Father's Day or for your father's birthday. 

 I came up with this idea after coming across a cardstock that was the same color as my dad's favorite shirt.  I grabbed some buttons from my nicknack bin…et voila…shirt card!  I used my Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut all the word tags, Fiskars SureCut Personal Trimmer for sizing, and a boning tool to make crisp, straight creases.  Although, I made this card a Father's Day theme, there are endless ways to switch this shirt card up for any occasion. 

The only problem you might encounter is finding an envelope that can fit the card.  With the buttons and layers of folds, the card can get quite thick.  My advice is to find a nice envelope first and then make a card that fits inside.  I used a nice quality envelope from a fancy pack of Christmas greeting stationary.  Hope this gives you some ideas on how to make a card for your special man.               

About Lisa H Tran

Face Painting Samples

For the past year, I have been doing face painting as a side job and for friends and family.  I decided to do face painting after volunteering at an informational fair at my sister's college.  She asked if I can lead her students at the face painting booth.  At the time I agreed to do it, I had no idea what face painting entails.  I mean, it can't be too bad.  It's just painting on a different canvas.  After that event, I really got into it.  Words spread and I was at parties and shindigs of different sorts.  I really enjoy the smiles I get from children and adults after they see their faces.  It's something cool that they can laugh about and take with them after a party.  I have received requests that were from the basic, fun stuff to some out of this world ridiculously hilarious paintings.

These are some samples I made for clients who have requested specific themes for their children's parties.  Don't forget to check out my other post on face painting from September 2011.  If you are my former client, please, please try to email me your photos of face paintings I have done for your event!  Thank you!   

*I really need to make more effort documenting my face paintings.

About Lisa H Tran

Card to Say Hello

Last year, I made this card to give to a friend who I haven't seen in a long time due to our distance.  This is the card I was talking about when I made the tiny tulip bouquet.

 

This card consists of squares and rectangles of different sizes and colors with a brown square card as a base and a ribbon wrapped around the last layer of the card.  Having just a Fiskars SureCut Personal Paper Trimmer does the job of achieving straight edges and 90 degree angles.    

The combination of turquoise and brown is my favorite.  At the upper right hand corner, the Hello tag is a rectangle chipboard accent from one of my scrapbook kit with a sticker that says "hello."  The gems are adhesive embellishments you can find everywhere for under a dollar.   

My tip for you today is LAYER, LAYER, LAYER!  Whenever we want to snaz up our outfits, we layer our shirts or add on a scarf or some jewels.  So, why not apply that concept to craft?

About Lisa H Tran

Back Home

Finally back in the farmland of Central Valley after summer school and work in the bay.  I have been neglecting this blog for way too long AGAIN.  Now, that my Photoshop is running properly and I have a break until school starts at the end of September, I will try to share all of my documented craft projects and then, more of what I found interesting at the summer camp I was working for this past season.

It is nice to be at home again to see my papa, my five bunnies, and my sister's kids, but I do miss everything in South Bay--food, people, fun activities, and shopping.  Yes, food.  I would be crazy if I didn't mention that.  Most of all, I miss being busy and overwhelmed.  People think I'm crazy for saying that, but I'd rather be stressed than depressed.  There's not much for me to do around here besides cooking for my dad, cleaning, and chilling with technology.  But seriously, someone needs to take my phone away from me!

Well, now that I got that off my shoulders, it is time to plan out some things to keep me busy.  My friend, Lana, has been yearning to see me.  I might just go to the bay to visit her and take her with me to look for a place for me to live when I return to school in September and meet up with Thuy, who is also in the bay.  Last, but not least, pay a visit to my sister, Christina, who just moved an hour away from home for college.  Don't worry guys.  I will squeeze in a few new craft projects here and there during this break.                         

About Lisa H Tran

Bookmark with Cricut Expression

Woohoo!  Another Cricut sharing!  I am very excited to share this option to readers who are thinking of purchasing or who already have the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, but do not know how to use it.  And yes, I use Plantin SchoolBook very often, because it includes way more options compared to many other Cricut cartridges out there.  During my Cricut demonstrations, I always start out with showing how to make personalized bookmarks.  I loved how I can make them on the spot for kids, especially, kids with unique names.

Here is a bookmark, Esther (my favorite student), made for me as a thank you gift.  Esther was such an amazing lady.  She came to all my Cricut and papercraft demos and was eager to learn new techniques.  After a few sessions of instruction, she used her Cricut Expression to make bookmarks to raise funds for her church and also donated thousands of bookmarks to local schools.  How great is that?!
 

This option is basically using the End Cap, tagright/tagleft , and shadow feature from this cartridge.  The cartridge does come with instructions on how to use this feature, but it is sort of confusing.  Cricut really shorten their instructions to the minimum.  Hopefully, you will be able to find a Cricut expert at your local craft store to see it in action.  

Embellishments really help to add flare to scrapbooking or papercrafting.  Here, Esther added flower and butterfly layered accents.  I usually tell my students to pay attention to the texture of the cardstock they use.  I prefer using matte with shiny or glossy texture and never shiny on shiny.   Esther took that into consideration and used a glossy cardstock on a darker matted cardstock, which emphasized contour and enhanced the letters in the center.  She also chose an embellishment that picked up on the color of the background, creating a unified balance.      

  

Thank you again, Esther!  I miss you!  

*Just a reminder: I am not sponsored by ProvoCraft Cricut Brand

*My Photoshop is having problems, so I apologize for the horrible photos. 

     

About Lisa H Tran         

Banner with Cricut Expression

Last year, before I left my retail employment, I was asked to make a banner to welcome back my manager after her surgery.  It was an honor to create a banner that captured her energy and bubbly personality that we missed so much.  Plus, this was during the springtime.   

As promised, I am sharing a banner created using my Cricut Expression and the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge to show you the many things one basic cartridge can do.  I just cut out the letters with its shadows and used the grass shape cuts as the base.  The flower decor was also a shape from the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge.  Just cut out two in different colors with the top one a quarter inch smaller than the bottom.    

I curled up the top petals by rolling them with a rounded pencil to add some dimension to the banner.  Otherwise, cardstock, glue, and the Cricut Expression with the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge is all you need!    

   

About Lisa H Tran