And the adventure begins...

Welcome to the Yumi & Fumi Handmade Crafts Blog Hop!

If you've stopped here from Rosie's blog then you are on the right track.  If not head on over to the Yumi & Fumi Handmade Crafts blog to start at the beginning.  You will find all the information there including prizes up for grabs, and the blog hop list.  The hop starts today and will run until Sunday, July 15th at Noon PST.  That means you have 4 days to hop, comment, and look around.   There will be hidden prizes so be sure to comment on each blog to be in the running.

Now let me introduce you to Yumi of Yumi & Fumi!

This stamp measures 2.5"x 3.25" and includes both Yumi and Fumi.  One of the best aspects of our stamps is that they are scroll cut and indexed for easy stamping.  That means no cutting and you can see where you stamp.

My contribution to our little hop is also the preview of one of the make n' takes we'll have at the Stamp in the Hand Rubber Stamp Convention in Carson coming up this weekend.  For those of my friends who are unfamiliar with a make n' take, it's a card or project that we design for our customers to put together and color while visiting our booth.  It's just $2 and we provide all materials, as well as a helping hand.  Make n' Takes are VERY popular and if you get to come see us this weekend, you'll have an opportunity to choose from several different ones.

I hope you enjoy my little card.  If you are a bit more curious to learn about Yumi & Fumi, I've added a little more info at the end of this post.  Maybe when you are done with the hop, you can come back and check it out.

(Copic Markers Used: Hair - E7, 59, 57, 35.  Skin - E50, 51, 53.  Eyes - E33, 37.  

Sweatshirt - E31, 33, 37.  Heart - BG15, 49.  Jeans - B06, 14.  Boots - E37, 35.  And you can't tell in the pic, but there is some sparkly goodness on the earrings and hearts from Copic Spica glitter pens.)

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget to become a follower and leave a comment.  Next on the hop is...

Leanne!!!! - http://liloshaggymoto.blogspot.com

some more Yumi & Fumi 411...

As my wonderful friend Leanne said it best, it's a dream come true.  This week we are realizing our dream of being a part of the craft world by starting our own little rubber stamp company, Yumi & Fumi Handmade.   Yumi is my Japanese name and Fumiko is Leanne's Japanese name and since we are both fans of chibi and anime style art, we thought it was fitting for our company name.
 
Here's the story:
I started crafting in the 1980's when it was pretty much only a couple of stamp companies (remember Stampa Barbara and Abracadada?)  It was before the heat gun when we heated our powder embossed (only gold, silver, clear or bronze) images by holding our image over a toaster.  Ahhh...good times :) I even saved some of my stuff from back then; such nostalgia.  I still have my stamps from back then, too.


Leanne and I have been friends since high school.  We attended rival schools and played basketball and volleyball against each other.  But despite the disdain our high schools had for each other, Leanne and I and our teammates built amazing friendships.  In our adult years, we ended up playing volleyball on the same team even though we weren't jumping quite as high as we used to, LOL!  We learned in more recent years that we also had a love for crafting and it rekindled our kind of "sidelined" creative selves.  We started doing some projects together.  Neither of us claims to be a pro or even claim to be very good, but we love absolutely LOVE the experience of making something for someone and in return receiving a simple smile.  With our different strengths in crafting, I think we found that we balanced each other out very well and we just have SO MUCH FUN!!!


In January of 2011, a series of circumstances brought Leanne and I together with the wonderful team of Irina Blount and Eric Berry of La-La Land Crafts.  We were so fortunate to connect with them and in no time, a new and great friendship was born.  We learned so much from them and it really inspired us and helped us to realize that our dreams were a possibility.

And here we are! Excited, nervous, happy, stressed...you name it, we're feelin' it right about now.  One of the most settling things about beginning this journey is the crew we've gathered to help share our dream with the rest of the world.  It is a collection of generous, amazing and talented women and we are fortunate to have them as our first ever Design Team.  This blog hop, where you 'hop' around from blog to blog to view each designer's creations (that explanation for those of you like me who are not very blog savvy) is going to be an exciting way to see what they have done with the first release for Yumi & Fumi Handmade.  Please enjoy and then come back to the Yumi & Fumi Handmade Crafts Blog and let us know what you think.


Aloha always,  
Renate' (Yumi)