I am in love ...

with two new blogs I have happened upon. These women are crazy creative and very generous to share their ideas, and often downloads, with visitors! Check them out :)

Skip To My Lou
She is going to do one awesome craft a day throughout the entire month of June! Hurry, sign up now. Its free and June is right around the corner.

Today's Creative Blog
Wait until you see what she can do with duct tape! Awesome :)

My baby turned 5 on May 17th! I can't believe my chubby baby girl with the big gummy grin is now a super skinny and sassy chick about to start kindergarten! Boo Hoo! She wanted a mermaid birthday party which we morphed into a backyard water park theme. Which would have been super cute but the weather did not cooperate. We attempted to turn the garage into a tiki hut. It was the best we could do. The kids had a blast splashing around in their bathing suits even though it was only mid-60's! Brrrrrr! Here is her invite and thank you note.






Happy Crafting! Remember its COOL to craft and when its 90 degrees outside, do you really need another excuse?

February Creations

My wonderful SWAP group had taken off December, and maybe November (I can't even remember!!) but we regrouped and started back up in January. I am running late, however, but did get my design all worked out. I have a few more to make but here is the final product:



My sister-in-law just moved into a new house, so that was my inspiration. I love to multi-task! The new clear stamps from SU! are wonderful. I love that they take up so much less space, of course. But, they stamp very nicely, too. Just like the wood, really. This set, Good Neighbors, is from the Sell-A-Bration set and so is the paper, Welcome Neighbors DS. It's so cute. Not sure what I will use all that paper for but it is adorable. You can never have too much paper, right??

And, I was asked to make a friend's birthday card, because we were going out for margaritas last night (in a small snow storm, I might add). My sister suggested the "Cheers to You" stamp set which was perfect for this occasion. Here is what I came up with:



Thanks for looking,

January Craft Club Projects

In case you missed my January Craft Club, here are the projects. I will also sell kits for $17 a piece. Let me know if you are interested in purchasing one!







The next class is Saturday, February 20th from 10am-1pm. Cost is $15. There will be 4 projects plus a bonus. Kits will be available for $17 following the class.

Kimberly

Teacher Gifts

Well, having sick kids for about a month has given me some much needed craft time. I was asked by Kammy's teachers to whip up some notecards and such for a student teacher who has been in their classroom all semester. She leaves this week so here is what I delivered this morning. I think they turned out cute and had a little bit of a hard time letting go :)











And here is what all the teachers are getting for Christmas. My fabulously talented friend, Roxanne, made the cute "snow" shovels. We added hot chocolate, a yummy chocolate bar, and some marshmellows for snow :)



Thanks for looking! Happy Crafting!

Kimberly

Octo Purse

Morning! This is gonna be a quick post, as my kids are parked in front of the TV and we are all still in our PJs. Definitely need to be productive today! I made this card for a friend who was so kind to give me birthday present last month. Thanks, Sandy!




I also made a set of four cards for a Party Lite friend. She had mentioned maybe buying some cards from me a while ago but we just kept talking without any specifics. So, I decided to be assertive and just make her some to see if we could "make a deal". And it worked :) So, these were a gift. I didn't get a good picture of them unfortunately. They are square cards with a window in the center. I punched some scalloped squares from printed paper and cut out the window. Than, on the inside, layered another scalloped square of printed paper, a smaller solid colored scalloped square and than the candle party stamp which I thought worked perfect for this occasion. I popped up the candle stamp so it comes through the window a bit. Than tied a ribbon along the side, after running the front of the card through my Big Shot to add the embossed polka dots. Not sure you can see any of this in the pictures so hopefully this will give you an idea. I like how they turned out and were actually very quick to do!



Thanks for looking! Happy Crafting :)

I am a TWEETER ....

Come follow me on twitter

By the way, this is a card I did for my swap group a month or two ago! I just love this little bird and the polka dot ribbon. Really, this might be one of my favorite cards of all time.

Thanks for looking,

Why, Hello There ....

Its been a while, huh? No promises when I will blog next since I keep making promises that I don't keep. I don't like it when people promise me stuff and then don't follow through, so no promises from me! Here are a few things that I have done while I was away doing God knows what :)






And I even participated in a challenge which I have not done FOREVER. This one is from The Cats Pajamas Co. and it was a fun color challenge. I was inspired immediately. This is actually a pocket calendar cover, but it could be used for a checkbook cover, also (although its a tad big -- didn't fit in my wallet). The image is from the Tickled Pink set from The Angel Company (circa 2008). And I have had those flip flop brads (from OTC) for almost as long as my youngest child has been alive. Okay, exaggerating ... but its been a long time. I thought they were cute and then when they arrived didn't know quite what to do with them. Does that happen to anyone else?





And I thought, as incentive to myself, I would pose a question. Answer the question and I will randomly chose someone to receive a small token of my appreciation for helping me get back to my blog. Let's consider this "baby blog candy" :)

QUESTION FOR THE DAY:

What is one "strange" item that you have used to craft with?

I will start:
I might try to stamp anything that will hold still long enough. But one that comes to mind is when I made the most adorable (IMHO) container to hold my tacks for my bulletin board out of those Laughing Cow cheese containers -- you know the circle ones with the lids? I also just bought some clear tubing from the hardware store with visions of bracelets dancing in my heads. I will have to let you know about that one.

Your turn!

Challenges Galore

I have never really done challenges, but have been feeling inspired lately. I don't know if I am even getting these three in on time, but they were fun to do and maybe they will inspire you to try a challenge or two :)

Here is my entry for the MOJO50 challenge. Did I mention I am recently in love with Verve Visual? Well, in case you didn't get that memo, here is another card using the "cupcake affairs" set and the sentiment is from "artful elegance" and reads, "life is good" (that's kinda hard to see in this not so great picture ... sorry!).

Here is my entry for Shelli's "Celebrate" challenge. Shelli's blog is so fun and I have enjoyed seeing her creations, hearing about all the fun things she gets to do to help grow and promote SU!, as well as, just enjoying her family. She seems so down-to-Earth. I am very inspired by her success and creativity! If you haven't checked it out go now :) Even if you just love babies ... she has a beautiful new grandbaby.

And here is my entry for Beate's Inspiration Challenge. I love this designer series paper (SU! Rebecca) it has always been one of my faves! And when I saw the inspiration piece of this challenge, I knew this would work. I went to an SU! garage sale, a week or so ago, and this is one of the retired sets (Friendly Flowers) that I picked up. Not sure why I never got this out of the catalog. I really like it. I pierced the black mat around the edges but it didn't show up so well. I was trying to multitask and take pictures of my cards while I let my puppy out in the backyard. It was really too late in the day to get good sunlight, unfortunately!

Back to the craft room as soon as the kids are tucked in their beds for the night ... half hour and counting!

Verve Stamps and Soccer Practice

Another busy week is over and I am so glad it's a holiday weekend. Tim's busy time is almost to an end although he left at 8am this morning and won't be back until midnight or 1am tonight! Tomorrow and Monday he will be home all day and night :) Then next Friday he took off and we will head to Gulf Shores, AL for our family vacation with all my sibs -- provided Gustav and Hanna cooperate some! So, the end is near and we will be a family of four again soon :)

It's been a bit challenging to find stamping time lately but I did get some stuff done this week. I ordered my first Verve Stamps and I am SO EXCITED! I got the Anni-VERVE-sary set so that gave me lots to play with! These could keep me busy and happy for a while. These are going up on my Etsy store (see sidebar for link) soon.

I am also working on some notecard sets for Etsy and a few craft shows I am considering this Fall. So, here is a peek at those:

They are embossed. Simple, but super cute, I think! I have a friend on bedrest and one set of these are for her. I figured it will be hard for her to get out to buy any cards she might need and she will have time to write some notes to friends. :)

Well, that's it for now. I hope to get some good crafting time in this evening since Tim is working late. Oh, and I was going to share one cute picture of Teagan playing soccer :) That started this week. It was so hot that day and half way through I had to bribe him with a Dilly Bar from DQ. ;) We will see how next week goes!

Happy Stampin'!

Unplug and Put Your Feet Up

I have not been getting much crafting done this past week. My DH has been putting in super long hours and my energy level has been low. He was able to come home relatively early yesterday so we could hang out and have dinner together. I made him this card:


to let him know how much we appreciate all his hard work. The inside says 'Glad you can "unplug" and hang out with us' -- he seemed grateful. This one came together kind of slow. It needed something and Teagan was playing with a box right beside me. So, I tore off a piece and stuck it on there. Gave it a little texture. This isn't my favorite card but its okay. I also used my rubber craft scissors to snip off the back of the screw brads in the upper right hand corner and attached them with glue dots. That way I didn't have to worry about getting the back lined up and not peeking around that small corner punch.

And, my friend Jen is pregnant and due in October. I hadn't sent a card to congratulate her! Am I the only one obssessed with make cards and suck at sending them??? What is the deal with that??? Anyway, my prego sister just got craveabella and this was a great excuse to use this. This sketch was inspired by the 12 Days of Verve for their anni-VERVE-sary. I didn't get to participate but I printed them out and hope to play with more of them very soon.

So, I hope to be able to find time to be creative this week! Thanks for looking :)

Challenges

Here are my "entries" into the challenges that I mentioned yesterday! The first is for my own clinque lipstick case challenge. The ribbon gave me fits and I am not sure I like that part of it but I wanted to give it some texture and liked the thought of some stripes on this one. I don't think I have ever used rub-ons on a card ... don't ask me why!?? And I like them, except, that the thanks a bunch on the bottom is crooked! Darn it! Anyway, I also played with the SU! new In Colors and think they are so fun!

This next card is my Black -N-White attempt for Susie's wedding challenge. I got this super cool paper at Archivers at their free make-n-take weekend which ended up costing me $90!! But this card helps make that worth it. I think it turned out quite pretty. I also am in love with the pretties kit. My next adventure with that is to dye the flowers :) Check out Susie's blog here: http://www.whiteribboncards.blogspot.com/

And lastly, Bridgett challenged us to make a birthday card for a little boy. Her son is turning 1 soon! I just got this stamp at Hobby Lobby when they had their stamps 50% off. I hardly ever buy single stamps from retail stores like that but with their sale and a gift card from my hubby for my birthday I thought I'd splurge! I absolutely adore this printed paper and this is the last of it :( I got it at my LSS that closed its doors forever last month. I am not sure I like the scallops behind the monkey layer but I wanted to do something special to mimick the scallop circles on the paper. Hmm ... gotta think about that decision?! Check out Bridgett's blog here: http://www.hoosierstamper.blogspot.com/

Thanks to the Men's Olympic Team who stunned everyone by battling for the silver metal and going on to win the bronze against many, many odds, I got all these cards done -- I was up way too late and am dragging this morning!! Go USA! :) I gotta say, though, that I was so excited for the Chinese Men's Team -- what an amazing win!

Later,