Lovely Lizabeth!!!

Isn't she just too cute for words???? She reminds me of when Emileigh was little and learning to ride her two-wheeler bike in the driveway, wearing her little denim overalls!! Aaaahhhh. Seems so long ago!!!

Lizabeth is one of High Hopes' latest releases and I think she is my favourite one!!! I stamped her and coloured her in using my Copic markers. I think I just might be getting the hang of those things. It does take a lot of practice....good thing I don't mind practicing!! Heehee!!

I used the same K&Co. dp that I used on yesterday's horsie card. I added some super yummy Prima Fancies that I picked up for 25% off at a LSS, attached them with Prima brads, added some Michael's $ ribbon and a rubon from the SU Sale-a-bration set!!! So do you lovey her????

Well, it sounds like you ladies are really up for a week of fun!!! I know I am!!! Make sure you are all rested up for a week of challenges. Maybe this weekend is your opportunity to tidy up and organize your stamp area, ready to play!!! Maybe?? No. Okay, me either!!! hahaha!!!

Today is my day off, so I'm hoping to get a lot of stamping accomplished, as well as some laundry and other yucky stuff!! Have a stampin' good day!!!!

MFT Sketch Challenge.....and Super Fun Party Plans!!!!

This seems to be a bad time of year for colds and coughs and just the general 'yuckies' and so many people seem to be sick. So here is a card for the very next person I know who comes down with something!!!

I used the horsie from Punny Farm by My Favorite Things for the first time and stamped him in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured him in with my Copic markers. I tried to make him look like a palomino pony. Then I used the tiny grass stamp from It's a Jungle Out There to make the grass look more real.

The layout I used is this week's MFT Sketch Challenge over on SCS. Cindy Haffner posts an awesome new layout every week, so if you are ever lookin' for inspiration, you know where to go!! The dp is from my giant box of K&Co. paper from Costco and I also used Certainly Celery and Cool Caribbean, added some velvet ric rac by Making Memories, some Prima flowers and Prima brads. The sentiment panel was made using the large oval punch from SU and the scalloped circle punch. I punched out the scalloped circle in CC cardstock, then cut it in half right down the middle and overlapped the pieces by one scallop, so now it has more of an oval shaped scallop.

So I've been thinking a lot about next week's Birthday/Blogoversary/100,000 visitors celebration!! Firstly, I think I need to come up with a catchy name for it, so I need your help!!! Leave a comment in this post with some ideas for a Kool name for my PAR-TAY!!! Maybe I'll even send the winner a little sumpin'-sumpin'!!! *wink*

Anyway, here is what I have planned for next week......now hang on to your stamps, girls....it's gonna be a WEEK LONG CELEBRATION!!!! I figure, hey, a girl only turns 29 once, right???? Don't I look good?? Heehee!!

So starting on my actual B-day, which is this Sunday, February 3rd, I will be posting a super awesome fun challenge EVERY DAY for a whole week!!!! Each challenge will be posted first thing in the morning and everyone can join in the fun!! There will be a sketch challenge, a colour challenge, a technique challenge and MORE!!! A winner will be chosen for each challenge and I have some amazing prizes provided by some of the most awesome people in the biz!!! You can enter each challenge as many times as you like, but each card must be a NEW creation and you can only enter each card into ONE challenge!

How does that sound?? Super fun??!! I know, right!!! I'm so excited!!!

Tilda and Teddy!!

There are so many blogs that I read and get inspiration from, but one of my favourites is My Time by Lauren Meader. She is a constant source of information and tips, as well as amazingly creative designs. I'm also fortunate to say that we are on the My Favorite Things Design Team together!!

Anyway, I was checking her stuff out over the weekend (I have NO idea how she accomplishes so much in a single day.....she must not sleep at all!!) and I discovered this sketch that she posted. I'm always looking for inspiration in the form of sketches, so I made this card using Tilda and Teddy by Magnolia the other night!! Of course, I purchased mine from the lovely Phebe at The Town Scrapper!! This was the first time she had seen ink and I had new dp to play with too!!

So I stamped her on this new paper that I found!! For all you Canadians, you can find it at Walmart in the office supplies section and it is called Wausaw Bright White cardstock. You get 100 sheets for about $6 and I tried it for the first time on the weekend and I LOVE IT!!! It is about half the weight of Papertrey's Stampers Select cardstock but I have found that I get NO lines with my Copic markers on it. With PT I do still get lines and I find that I have to go over the area twice with my marker to cover that up...but with this stuff, I don't!! I'm really liking it!!

Anyway, I coloured her in using my Copic markers and using my new Ginger Blossoms dp by SU as a guide for colours. I added some 'blush' to her cheeks with a q-tip and my Pretty in Pink craft ink and doodled around her frame. I added some Prima flowers with SU brads and some Michael's ribbon which just happens to match Groovy Guava! Then I stamped the sentiment by CC Designs and paper pierced a line at the bottom! Ain't she a doll?????

Well, I've got some great things planned for my Birthday/Blogaversary next week and I'm also hoping that I might hit 100,000 visitors in that time, so it should be a HUGE par-tay, wouldn't you think??? I'll tell you my plans.........tomorrow!!!

Hanna and Wormie!!

Happy Monday morning! This will be a quick post as I have to get Emileigh to her Business exam and then be at work for 9am.

Yesterday I got a chance to finally crack open my Hanna stamps and have a little fun! This first one was for the Featured Stamper challenge over on SCS and the second was for a Hanna sketch challenge!



I used the same basic colouring scheme for both of them and used my Copic markers. I tried some new paper and I'll tell you about it later! No time, ya know!! I think they are both pretty self-explanatory but I did add three rhinestones on the sentiment circle on the Hanna card and I added crystal lacquer all over the umbrella in the Wormie card, so that it looks shiny and wet!

Have a stampin' good day!!!

Winner of Kimmie's Challenge #8!!

Come on down JO, from Weymouth, Dorset, UK!!! You are the winner of Kimmie's Challenge #8!!!

Look at this adorable Koala Bear card she made for the animal challenge!!! Isn't he just TOO cute!!!



Jo has a lovely blog called Only Joking and she has some cute things over there, so be sure to check it out!

Jo, make sure to email me with your mailing address so that I can get your High Hopes stamp out to you right away!!!

With Love.....from Tilda!!

Well, it's Sunday! We had a bit of a lie in this morning, which was nice. Then we got up and made some brunch....eggs with mushrooms and cheese and peameal bacon for Al and I and pancakes for Emileigh. I've just started the laundry and Emileigh has some studying to do for her exam tomorrow, so I'm hoping to get a little bit of stamping done.

This card is another Tilda by Magnolia and is perfect for Valentine's Day or just to tell someone that you love them!! I made it for a challenge a couple of weeks ago on the Tilda & Co. Challenge Blog! This challenge was just to include flowers on your card, so I added some rather large Primas and attached them with a Hot Off the Press heart shaped brad from The Town Scrapper. I just checked the blog for this week's challenge which was posted this morning and it is to make something for Baby! I'll have to get to work on that!

Anyway, I think this card is pretty self-explanatory. I used Basic Grey Blush papers and paper-pieced her dress, added sparkly Stickles to her wings and dotted around the frame a bit with the white gel pen. The sentiment is from one of my My Favorite Things sets!



Emileigh and I had a wonderful evening last night!!! We went to the John Labatt Centre in London to the Michael Buble concert.....what a hottie!!! The concert was fanastic, he has such an amazing sense of humour and the show was just incredible!! We were singin' and dancin' and droolin' all night!! hahahaa!! It's so much fun to do things like this with Emileigh now that she is a teenager and we can 'hang out'!! I really cherish these special times we spend together and I'm so grateful that we are so close!




Tomorrow I will be announcing the winner for last week's challenge! And I've got some awesome plans for my Birthday/Blogoversary/100,000 visitors Celebration!!!! So be sure to come back next week and maybe I'll share some of my ideas!!! Or maybe I'll just tease ya!!! hahaha!! Have a stampin' great day!!!

Old Friends, New Friends!!!

What a wonderful afternoon we had today! And I just couldn't wait to share all about it, so I am posting twice today!!! Now this is going to be a long post, I'm warning you now, so either skip on to the next blog or settle back with your cup of coffee.....or glass of wine, depending on the time of day where you are!!!

So I set off from home about 10:45am, aiming to be in Petrolia around noon. As it stood, there would be myself and Phebe, (the owner of The Town Scrapper), Bonnie (The Lucky Clucker) and Ellen (the owner of Actors, the restaurant we were having lunch at)! Most of you know that my Mom (NanaDiana on Splitcoast) is a happy stamper too and we LOVE to stamp shop together! Well, Mom was unable to come as she had to babysit my nephew later in the afternoon and didn't think she would have enough time to eat, shop, yak and then get home again. I tried to talk her into it but she didn't think it would work. Well, I decided to leave for Petrolia a little early and thought maybe Mom could meet up at the store with me early, do her shopping first, have lunch with us and then drive home....she should have enough time if we did it that way. So I called her on her cell phone and she sounded kind of funny and when I asked her where she was, she just said 'in the car'. And when I suggested my idea, she just said it wouldn't work and she'd talk to me later. Well, let's put it this way....my Mom is a BAD liar. I knew right away that she was planning to surprise me and meet me in Petrolia and when I pulled into the parking lot, I immediately spotted her car!! What I didn't expect was that she had also brought our mutual friend Connie with her! They jumped out from behind another vehicle and surprised me!!! It was SO funny!



PHEBE, DIANA AND CONNIE

So we went over to The Town Scrapper and Phebe was right there to greet us at the door! We took off our coats and put down our purses right away and started shopping!!! This picture was taken about 10 minutes after we arrived and you can see that my Mom and Connie have their hands and armpits full of stuff already!!! Look at that stack in my Mom's hands!!! Good grief!



PHEBE, MOI AND CONNIE

We were having so much fun ooooooing and aaaahhing over the adorable stamps and papers, that we lost track of time and realized it was 12:30pm and time for our lunch at Actors!!! Thankfully the restaurant is right on the other side of the parking lot!! So we left our piles of loot at the store and made our way over.



RESERVED FOR THE FUN CROWD!!

There was a table all reserved for our special party!! Ellen and Bonnie were already waiting for us at the table and there were hugs all around!! It was SO much fun to meet everyone and yak and gab with gals that have the same passion for paper and stamps that I do!! There was lots of talkin', sharin' and laughin' going on at our table, let me tell ya!



CONNIE, THE BIRTHDAY GIRL (that's me) AND BONNIE (Note the Copics on the table!!)

We had the most wonderful food for lunch too!!! I had the same thing I had last time because it was just so good!! One of the fun things about Actors is that the dishes all have actors' names!! We had a Sally Field, a Flip Wilson and a couple of Danny DeVitos!! It was a riot! We'd barely gotten lunch finished and cleared away and out came the Copic markers. Ellen had asked me to bring them for her to look at as she was considering buying some.....I think she's sold on them!! heehee!! Then out of the blue, the waitress came over carrying a luscious piece of chocolate cake and ice cream with a sparkler on top!!! They all sang Happy Birthday to me and I had a yummy DEE-licious Betty Boop dessert!!! Such fun!!



ELLEN, MOM AND PHEBE

After we were all stuffed full of a fabulous lunch, we headed back over to The Town Scrapper and we each picked out some wonderful stamps, paper and embellishments!! Nothin' like shoppin' for stamps, I tell ya!!! And Phebe has Whipper Snappers and High Hopes and Magnolias and My Favorite Things and Sunshine Designs....and so many nice papers and embellies to go with them!!! Aaaaaghhhhh! We had a real hoot!!

So I just wanted to thank the gals for meeting me and sharing such a fun day! There's nothin' like hangin' with old friends and making new ones (and no Mom, that's not a crack about your age!!! *giggle*). Thanks ladies for a fun afternoon and I can't wait to do it again soon!!!

Just Wanted to Say Hi..............HI!!!!

Today I am heading to Petrolia for an afternoon of food and fun with some girls! We are meeting at the restaurant called Actors for lunch and then heading over to The Town Scrapper for some stampin'/scrappin'/shoppin' fun!! There are a couple of ladies coming that I've only 'met' through my blog, so that will be fun! I will be bringing along my camera, so hopefully I'll have some fun shots to share with you on the weekend! If you are in the area and would like to join us, I'd love to meet ya!!

Today's card features a stamp that I won on the Magnolia blog around Christmastime and it just arrived last week. They do draws for blog candy every once in a while, so free to go over there and check it out. While you're there you can check out the blogs of the Design Team members....they are FAB-ulous!!

This is Dala Tilda and I like her because she is a little different from all the other longer haired Tildas. This one has a cute little bob haircut! I stamped her on white cardstock and coloured her in using my Copic markers, then cut her out. The patterned paper is from a giant box of K&Co. paper that I got at Costco.....it was $15.99 for a box of 300 sheets!!! RUN to your nearest Costco ladies!! The card base is Lavender Lace and I also used Tempting Turquoise and Groovy Guava. I paper pierced across the top and the bottom of the main piece and also in each scallop of the circle. I pop dotted the main image, added some sparkle with my Stardust Sakura gel pen, attached some Prima Hydrangeas with a button brad and the sentiment is from Penny Black! I specifically made this card for a challenge on my friend Donna's blog to use paper piercing!

Don't forget, you have until Sunday night to join in Kimmie's Challenge #8 to win a High Hopes Stamp!!!

Not So Limited Supplies......

There was a Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS the other week and I don't often do these. I find it too difficult to limit myself to just this or that. I have a hard time following the rules...hahaha! This challenge was to use only background stamps and NO patterned paper!! Ack!! No patterned paper??? I know....it was hard. You were allowed 2 background stamps, one focal stamp and a sentiment, also 2 colours of cs plus a neutral and minimal embellishments. Well, I think I have one extra colour of cs and my embellishments.....well, I just can't do minimal. It's not in me. Like I said.....rules are not my friends.

Anyway, the background stamp I used is a retired one called Love Swirls and I stamped it on the piece of Close to Cocoa. The main image is stamped on SU watercolour paper which is 140lb and very thick and quite expensive. But it's great for using your SU markers on. I, of course, added Stickles to her wings and used my Aquapainter to make the ground for her to stand on. I added some pink gingham and some retired SU ribbon, then some of my yummalicious Prima flowers and attached them with glitter brads! So sparkly! The sentiment is from Essential Sentiments by My Favorite Things! This is my go-to sentiment set as it has lots of different ones to choose from. They all fit in the Word Window Punch and you can ink up just part of a sentiment if you want to. I stamped this sentiment and punched it out using the Round Tab Punch.

A Little Note About Kimmie's Challenge #8: I have been receiving links and emails with entries for the challenge and I'm so excited that you are joining in! However, some people are entering cards that are not new and have been entered in some of my challenges before. When I enter into a challenge on SCS or on other blogs, it is a requirement that the entry be a NEW creation. So please feel free to enter as many times as you like, but make sure you have made that item specifically for this challenge. The idea behind a challenge is not just to win a prize, but to get you motivated and inspired to stamp. Thanks and I look forward to seeing more of your fabulous creations!!!!

Blogoversary and Birthday!!!!

Hey, has anybody noticed the Blogoversary countdown on the left hand side??? Did you notice that it's getting awfully close to the first Anniversary of my blog??? It's actually on February 5th......AND my birthday is on the 3rd!!! I'm thinkin' we should do something kinda special.........what do you think????

Possum.....or Porcupine??? You make the call!!

I had a lot of fun playing with my hangin' possums the other day! Such cute new images from High Hopes! So I thought I'd play with the Valentine possum at the mailbox!

I used Bashful Blue textured cardstock by SU for the square card base and the patterned paper is from the Winter Bright Simply Scrappin' kit. I stamped the image on Stamper's Select white cardstock by Papertrey in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured him in using my Copic markers. Now this time, instead of using my gray markers on the little dude, I tried using some different browns. I think he looks so adorable....but maybe more like a porcupine than a possum. Emileigh agrees with me and thinks he's cute. What do YOU think??

Anyway, I added some large pewter eyelets by SU so I could thread the wide grosgrain ribbon through the image at the sides and I pop dotted the whole thing. I punched a bunch of hearts out of coordinating cardstock and stamped the sentiment by My Favorite Things on one of them. I also added some red Stickles on the little card hearts!!

Don't forget to enter Kimmie's Challenge #8 to win an adorable High Hopes stamp!

Sparklin' Mermaid!!!.....and wanna hang out with me??

Time for another Magnolia??? I think so! Here is one that I've been dying to play with since I got her! I orginally bought the trio of Fishies to go with Edwin Fishing and you may have seen them on this card that I did before. But when I got Mermaid Tilda, I knew they would be perfect with her too!!!

I stamped them all in Black Stazon ink on Stamper's Select white cardstock by Papertrey and coloured them in using my Copic markers. I cut out the fish separately. The patterned paper I used is by Crate Paper and the cardstock is Certainly Celery. I distressed the dp with my Heidi Swapp distressing tool and added some white taffeta ribbon and a tiny piece of ric rac.

Last weekend was Virtual Stamping weekend on SCS and I had to work most of it, but I did get a chance to do a couple of the challenges. One was to create a card with some sparkling bling on it, so I thought these images would fill the bill! I covered the fishies' scales and Tilda's tail with lots of Stardust Stickles to make them all purty!!! Then I added a ghost heart by Heidi Swapp, attached it with a glitter brad and pop dotted those fish!! Very simple layout too. Hope ya like it!!

Okay, so this coming Friday (January 25th), I'm planning a trip to Petrolia to my favourite stamp and scrapbook store, The Town Scrapper....PROVIDING that the weather is okay for driving! It is about an hour and fifteen minutes from where I live, so the roads have to be okay for me to set out. But I'm planning to meet Phebe in Petrolia and have lunch at a fabulous restaurant there, called Actors. You may remember me mentioning my last trip to P-town and the fabulous meal I had there. So we'll be meeting up for a nice lunch around noon and then we'll be going back to the store for some stamp shoppin'!! If you live in the Southwestern Ontario area and would like to join us, I'd love to meet ya!!! Just zip me off a quick email so I know how many to make reservations for at Actors and we'll see you there!!! It's gonna be lots of fun!!

Kimmie's Challenge #8!!

I thought I would post another challenge for you all today! Seems like you like 'em!! I know that I enjoy different challenges because it helps me to get lots of cards made and it helps me to be more creative!

Your challenge this week....should you choose to accept it....is to use animal stamps on your card!!! This should be a pretty easy one, right?? Nothin' cuter than little animals to play with!

This card was made for last week's sketch challenge on SCS! It's such a simple layout, that I'm sure I'll use it again! I stamped the Possum Pals stamp from High Hopes Rubber Stamps on Stamper's Select white cardstock by Papertrey in Black Stazon ink. Isn't this little pair just too adorable?? I used my Copic markers to colour them in and I added some Stardust Stickles on those cute little blossoms to make them sparkle! The patterned paper that I used is from the new Bali Breeze dp by Stampin' Up which I just got last week! So pretty!! I stamped the High Hopes sentiment directly on the dp, then added some Prima flowers with a glitter brad and there ya have it!!

So do ya wanna know what you'll win?? Of course you do!! Since you're playin' with cute little animals, it seems only appropriate that you WIN a cute little animal!! No, I won't be shipping off my mentally unstable Jack Russell, Daisy to your house.....although that wouldn't be a bad idea!! How about an adorable little animal stamp from HIGH HOPES RUBBER STAMPS???!!! So make a card for this challenge and post it on SCS or on your own blog and use the keyword KC8 for Kimmie's Challenge #8 or you can email me your small picture. Link it up in this post to tell me where to find it by Sunday, January 27th at noon EST and I will announce the winner on Monday morning who will receive the Penguin Family Fun stamp by High Hopes, perfect for this cold and snowy weather!!!

I {Heart} You!!!

You gals are just the bestest with your sweet comments and support!! You make me feel all warm and fuzzy!!! Thanks for all the congratulations and kindness....you gals rock!!! Maybe it's time for some kind of reward?? What do you think?? Maybe I'll post something on Monday!!! Hmmmm...

Anyway, I'm posting this early because I'm off to work at the library all day today...blech. I hate working Saturdays....it sucks. Plus we just got a new system installed yesterday for people to make their own computer reservations and I got stuck working alone last night with the new system and all the fun little glitches that came with it!! Yeehaw! At least today there will be someone else to work it with me. It's going to be an oh-so joyful day, I just know it.

So today's card is one I made for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch for this week....and yes, I did it on time!!! Not only that, I actually did it on the same day that it was posted because I had the day off!!! But I'm just getting around to sharing it now.

I just LOVE this little Whipper Snapper bug....he's just TOO stinkin' cute! I got him at The Town Scrapper a couple of weeks ago along with the DCWV paper, which you will notice, was on yesterday's card too. I'm lovin' all the bright, fun colours in these papers. This time I coloured my bug purple!! I used my Copics, my Marvy punches, my new Martha Stewart heart punch and a lot of white gel pen. Each word of the sentiment (which is a mixture of My Favorite Things sentiments) was stamped individually so that I could punch it out to go in the middles of the hearts. And of course I added some ribbon and some Stickles to make his little wings all sparkly!! You KNOW how I love sparkly!!

Anyhoo, I'm going to think about something fun for Monday.....maybe it will include some Kimmie's Kandy, so be sure to check back in at 'The Korner'!!! Have a great weekend!!!

Wanna Hear My Big News??????????

So you know I have some exciting things going on in my crafting world, right now, right?? I may have mentioned that recently. And some of you have been guessing as to what my news might be! Well, guess no more!! I'm gonna tell ya.....but only because you're my 'close friends' and I can keep it from you no longer!!!!

Two days ago....yes, I've been sittin' on this for TWO WHOLE DAYS now....I was on the phone with my Mom just before I was getting ready to go in to work. Well, I'm like most women these days, I multitask! So while I'm chattin', I'm also doing my face, fixing my hair, cleaning up the breakfast dishes, loading up the washing machine....you know the drill. I decided to check my email one last time before I went in to work.....(I am a habitual email checker, just so ya know)....and an email came in and I shrieked so loudly, that I think I may have hurt Mom's ear through the phone!!!! I got an email from a lady named Pauline, asking me if I would be interested in joining the MAGNOLIA DESIGN TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaagggghhhhh!!!! I'm bouncin' in my chair again here, just remembering it!!!

So I emailed RIGHT back, saying that OF COURSE I would love to be on their Design Team and apparantly I am the first in the Canadian division!!! How super exciting!! Well, I didn't want to share it right away, in case it was a horribly sick joke or in case I maybe woke up.....but today when I went to the Magnolia Blog, there's my name and link to my blog under the Canada DT section!!! Whoopeeeee!!! Go check it out!!!

Anyway, to share my great news, I had to make a new Tilda card, right?? So yesterday I was blurfing again and one of my favourite places to stop is Moonlight Inker by Sophia Landry!! She is an amazing artist and I just LOVE her work!! I'm going to have to take a trip to visit her and get some colouring tips, because she is a true artist!!! Anyway I was inspired by her card yesterday, seen here! Sophia had used her oval Nestabilities on her card and can you believe that I have had the ovals since Christmas time and hadn't even opened them?? Well, thanks to Sophia, I broke them open last night and had a ball!!! And this card is my creation!!

I stamped Tilda with her basket on Stamper's Select cardstock by Papertrey and coloured her in using my Copic markers and then cut her out. Both patterned papers are by DCWV which I got from Phebe at The Town Scrapper (that's where I get all my Magnolias too!) and the cardstock is Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery. I pop dotted the ovals and then pop dotted the Tilda on top. I added a heart brad on the basket and several pretty pastel buttons that I bought at the dollar store. I finished it off by adding Stardust Stickles to her wings and the striped paper also has glitter on the white stripes, so it's very sparkly in real life!!!

Thanks for sharing my good news!!! I really appreciate all your comments every day and your well wishes and support!!! It wouldn't be NEARLY as much fun without ya!!! MWAH!!! xoxoxox

Lovey Tilda!!

Two posts in one day?? What is with that?? I guess I just have an excess of stuff to share with you....I hope you don't mind!

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, (not to mention my birthday), I am in a rather 'lovey' mood! A lot of the things I'm creating are covered in hearts and pink and red. Well, I love hearts no matter what time of year it is, but especially in February!

So here is a new Tilda stamp that is perfect for telling someone that you LOVE them!! I was trying to come up with a good layout for her and while I was 'blurfing' or blog-surfing, I visited my friend and fellow Design Team member Michele Boyer's blog, Paper Cuts. She is one talented women, let me tell you. And one of her little Penguin cards jumped out at me so I used it as inspiration for this card. Thanks Michele!!

I used Basic Grey Blush papers on this one and paper pieced her little jumper. I also played around with my Copic markers and added Stardust Stickles to her little wings. The hardware is from We R Memorykeepers and the ribbon is pink taffeta by SU. Oh and the sentiment is one from a little trio of stamps by Hero Arts!

Have a stampin' good day!!

Verve Visual Guest Designer!!!

Okay, so this is one of the exciting things that I've been sitting on for more than a month! It's so difficult sometimes to work on things and love them and then not be able to share them!!



Back around the beginning of December, my friend Julee Tilman (Poetic Artistry) who is the creator and owner of Verve Visual, emailed me and asked me if I would be a Guest Designer for her January release!! Well, of course I said......um, YEAH!! The new set of stamps that I got to work with is Polka Stars! Well, when they arrived it was like perfect timing because Emileigh had just gone to her first semi-formal at school and the theme was 'Starry Nights'! How appropriate, right?? So I knew right away that I was going to do a little scrapbooking for this release!!



I did two 6x6 scrapbook pages, a card and a notepad using my Bind-It-All. If you head on over to the Verve Visual blog today, you can check out the information on these purdy projects and also take a look at the gorgeous designs that the other Guest Designers have created this week!!!



There's more fun and surprises coming at Kraftin' Kimmie's Korner, so stay tuned!! I'll be back later today with another post!!!

Fancy Pants Tea for Two!

Today's card features this month's Project of the Month stamp from High Hopes! Trish the Tea Angel, along with a sentiment stamp and a couple of accessories stamps are on for 25% off for the month of January. Go on over and check it out!! I'm having fun playing with her!!

I stamped Trish on Fabriano watercolour paper in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured her in using a mix of my SU markers and ink and my Aquapainter. The colours I used are pulled from the Fancy Pants dp that I used. The colours I used are Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and Groovy Guava. I added some stitched GG ribbon, some Prima flowers and I made the outline of her wings and the steamy hearts sparkly using my Sakura Stardust gel pen.

I have some exciting things going on in 'my stamping world' but I can't share them JUST yet!! You'll have to stay tuned for all the fun!!! Have a stampin' good day!!

Hug a Bug!!!

I seem to have had quite a bit of time to craft over the last week or so and in turn, I have a lot of things to share!! So I am posting twice today!!! Once with the Magnolia stamp winner Marcie in the post below, and this post, with a new creation!!!

I played with a couple of new Whipper Snapper stamps yesterday and I just think this little Love Bug is the cutest thing!!! I use Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge, which I haven't been able to do in a while. It's pretty self explanatory but feel free to ask me any questions!! I used Copic markers and SEI designer papers and this time I used Black Stazon ink which worked really well with the Copics!!

Sorry this is short and sweet, but I gotta head in to work....yeehaw!! Have a fabulous day!!!

Wow!! You LOOOOOOVE Magnolias!!!!

I can't tell you how difficult it was to narrow down the winner!! There were over 50 entries and they were all super fantastic!!! Some were linked up in the contest post, others were uploaded to the SCS gallery and yet more were emailed to me directly!! It was crazy!!! I've come to the conclusion that.....you MIGHT like Magnolia stamps!!!

But I finally narrowed it down and the winner is................Marcie S. aka Disaster!!!! And here is her Tilda winning card:




Marcie, please email me with your mailing address and I'll get Tilda and her Basket out to you ASAP!!!

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for entering!! Keep your eyes peeled because I have more challenges and contests coming up......soon!!!

EDITED TO ADD: Someone expressed the fact that she thought the card had to be a Magnolia or Tilda stamp. If you go back and read the original instructions for this contest, it states that the challenge is to use the SKETCH from my card as inspiration. Nowhere does it say that you have to use a Magnolia or a Tilda at all. Just the sketch. The prize is a Magnolia stamp....that's all.

Kick-Stand Edwin!!!

I got the chance to play around in my craft room yesterday and here is one of the cards I made. I used Edwin Raking on a couple of cards and this one is for last week's sketch challenge. Yes, I'm a few days late, but oh well!! I actually got about 4 challenges done yesterday, so I was pretty proud of myself!!

For the colouring on this guy, I used my Copic markers to colour him but I used a little bit of a different style. Instead of colouring all the areas completely solid, I left little areas with a bit of white to draw the eye and give it a little more visual interest. Let me know if you like this way of colouring.



Anyway, he's stamped in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink on Papertrey's white cardstock. I used some Basic Grey Periphery paper on the top and then Not Quite Navy and Soft Sky SU cardstock. I strung some Michael's ribbon that matches Soft Sky and wound it around the top three times and then added a piece of brown gingham. I attached the NQN matting onto the top portion then pop dotted the remaining layer with Edwin on it. I also added a button and some linen thread and then put Crystal Stickles on his wings!!

WOW!! You gals really wanna win a Magnolia, don't you??? I have had a TON of entries already and the competition is fierce!!! I don't know how I'll ever choose a winner!!! But you've got until 8pm EST tonight, so keep 'em coming!!!

Scrapbook Diva Challenge - MFT Style!!!

I'm ashamed to say that I've done very little scrapbooking in the last few months. The cardmaking and altering items has really taken over. So it was a nice change of pace to do a double page spread yesterday. The My Favorite Things Design Team was asked to be a part of this week's Scrapbook Diva Challenges on Splitcoaststampers.




Here is my challenge:

SBDD09_Kimmie

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Hidee ho good Scrappers!!! I'm so excited to be asked to be part of the Diva Challenge Team this week!! I'm ashamed to say that I've done very little scrapbooking in the last few months, but I'm hoping that today's creation will jumpstart my scrappin' for this year!!

As a lot of you know, I started out my 'crafting career' (oh don't I sound hoity-toity?) as a scrapper. Scrapbooking is my passion and that's where I began. When I got invited to a Stampin' Up workshop, I went begrudgingly, thinking that I would NEVER buy all those stamps and ink just to make my own greeting cards!! What a crazy idea!! THEN the demonstrator showed me that I could use stamps on my scrapbook layouts......and that's all it took! I was hooked and haven't looked back since.

One of the first set of stamps I purchased, was of course, an alphabet! These are a staple for us scrappers! I counted how many alphas I have, and I'm ashamed to say that I have 18!! Gack!!! Do I really?? Yep. And I used them on ALL my layouts! Once in a while I change it up and use my Cuttlebug alphas for variety, but generally I go with the stamps! Stamps rule, what can I say??

I'm super happy with the way my double page layout turned out today. (And I do mean today........just finished it about a half an hour ago!!) I had just gotten these digital photos printed from Christmas and knew I just had to use them for this challenge!!

My challenge to you, is to a) use a colour as the main theme in your title and layout. I chose the BLUE from the colour of my gorgeous daughter's eyes. I immediately thought of the song lyric 'Baby's got Blue Eyes' and I have been singing it for the last 24 hours!! And sadly, only that line, repeatedly, as I have no idea what the rest of the words are!! Sigh!! So use the colours in your pictures as a jump-off point, whether it's the colour in someone's outfit, the colour of the landscape, the colour of someone's mood at that time. Go nuts! The other part of my challenge is to b) use one of or both of my layouts as inspiration! They don't have to be exactly the same, just use them as a guide if you like them. Sorry I don't have a fancy schmancy program to make you a black and white sample and even if I did, I wouldn't have a clue how to use it!!



So if you feel like scrappin' this weekend, be sure to use my challenge as inspiration and then upload it to your blog or gallery. I'd love to see your work!! There are also more fun challenges posted by other DT members, so feel free to try them too!!! Here is the thread where you can find all the details!!!

And don't forget about my Magnolia contest!!! You could win Tilda and her basket, so don't forget to submit your design!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Who would like to win a Magnolia?????

I bet that title got your attention!!! Do you feel like a little contest??? How about a sketch challenge??? And you could win one of the much sought after Magnolia stamps!!!! How about Tilda with her basket......like I used on this card??? Sound good??

Well, Phebe from The Town Scrapper and I are sponsoring this fun little event and if you would like to win my friend, Tilda, here's what you have to do:

Just create a card or scrapbook layout using the above card design as your inspiration. The layout doesn't have to be exactly the same, but use it as a starting point!!! Then link me up in the comments of this post and direct me to your gallery or blog to check it out!! If you don't have either, you can email me a pic of your card, just please make sure that the file isn't very big. If you do upload your card to the SCS gallery, please use KMC1, for Kimmie's Magnolia Challenge 1 in your keywords. I say 1 because, you never know, I might have another one sometime!!

The deadline for submissions is Monday, January 14th at 8pm EST. I will announce the winner of this awesome stamp on Tuesday morning!!

Now on to my card!! I stamped my lovely Tilda girl on SU watercolour paper and coloured her in using my SU markers in Rose Red, Taken with Teal, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel and Blush Blossom and I used my Aquapainter for the ground. The patterned paper is some of my fave SU retired paper, Loves Me. I'm bummed that you can no longer get it, but I can't wait for the new Berry Bliss to show up on my doorstep.....any day now!!! I added a little heart brad on her basket and I knotted a little piece of the matching retired ribbon and attached it with a glue dot to the middle strip. The layout is a Kimmie original and I added the photo corner punches in the top left for visual interest. And finally the sentiment is from How Sweet It Is by My Favorite Things.

Now hurry, go stamp something!!! And you could win a Magnolia stamp!!! Oooooooooo!

Wasn't That a Party???!!!

Whew!! Last night's My Favorite Things Release Party was a blast!!! There were a gazillion people there.....were you one of them?? If you were, you're eyes are probably a little sore this morning from trying to keep up with all the speedy chatter!!! And can I just say, that the MFT Design Team just rocks?? If you wanna take a look at all their amazing creations, just head over to the SCS gallery and search under MFTDT and you will have LOTS of yummy stuff to drool over!!!

If you'd like to join us on the Design Team for the month of February, there is a Challenge goin on right now. You can check out the details here and you have until tonight at 8:30pm EST to upload your submission!!

Also, if you like Trivia, there's a fun game for you to play! It's called My Favorite Things Trivia and actually Paperdoll Steph has already won (congrats!!) but the questions are fun anyway!!!

Well, the new January stamp sets are now available at the MFT website so you can head on over there to pick up Punny Farm, Be Mine and Happy Occasions as well as all the other awesome sets MFT has........not to mention those super-duper Copic markers!!! So I thought I would share some more of my MFT creations, since they are all up in the gallery now!!



The first two are from the Punny Farm set using Copic markers. I had the most fun with this set! The sentiments are so cute!!!



These next two are using the new Mini set, Be Mine!! So sweet and easy to make a quick card or creation!!

I think this last one is my favourite!! I found these little heart shaped tins at Michael's in the $ spot and added some glittery heart paper, a LOT of ribbon and a quick little scalloped circle tag on the top and there ya have it!! A super luscious little package!!! Hope ya like them!!



Well, I have an exciting little contest for ya tomorrow, so be sure to check back to get all the deets!!! Have a wonderful Thursday!!!

MFT Release Day!!!!! Yeehaaaaaaaaaw!!!

Okay, so I might be a little excited about the Release Party tonight!!! It's just so much fun to get together with people that are as excited about stamps as I am!!! Heehee!!!

And my gosh, have you SEEN the creations by my fellow Design Team members??? Good grief!! Kim V. already asked if we were on paper steroids, 'cause this stuff is rockin'!!!! I'm just so thrilled to be a part of the team!! You can check out their blogs or go over to the SCS gallery and punch in MFTDT to see them all in one place!!

Anyhoo, here are a couple more designs from me from the adorable mini set, Be Mine!!! I'm just lovin' these little conversation heart stamps!!! Do you remember giving those to your friends at school back in the day??? I do!!

The first one is a quick and easy gift set that I made using a LOT of pink!!! Do you think I over did it??? Nahhhhhhhhhh!!! I'm of the opinion that you can never have too much pink!!! All I did was take an empty can of Prima flowers, covered it in glittery pink patterned paper, added a LOT of pink ribbons and fibres and made a cutie little tag!!! Then I whipped up a little 3x3 gift card to go with it!!! So simple but way cute!!



The card I made started out as a glitter card from DCWV, but I trimmed off just the glittery turquoise front and used it as the purty layer on the Basic Black card front. The focal panel was made using a square punch and lavender lace matting and the hearts are stamped using Brilliance Dew Drop inks in Orchid, Sky Blue and Purple. The fourth heart is a chipboard heart that I covered in the Purple ink, set aside to dry and then added a pink button with some white embroidery floss. For the sentiment layer I first attached the pink twill and then the black scalloped circle. I stamped the flourishy flower from Boho Blossoms in the Orchid ink on white Papertrey cardstock and then stamped the sentiment from Hearts Galore over top. Then I covered the whole thing with a circle bookplate and brads from We R Memorykeepers!!

Okey dokey, well, I have a few more little items up my sleeve using these amazing new releases, but you'll have to pop in to the Release Party tonight sometime between 9-11pm EST on the MFT Forum to see them!! There will be lots of fun and games and of course you'll be able to get your inky little fingers on some new stamps!!! Woohoo!!
See you there!!!

MFT Sneaky Peek - Day 2!!

Heehee!! Isn't this fun?! Today's card features the soon-to-be-released set Be Mine by My Favorite Things which has those adorable conversation hearts and a yummy box of chocolates in a heart shaped box.........I've never received any of those before.....how come? Hmph!

I started out by stamping the row of three hearts in Versamagic Dew Drop inks in Sea Breeze and Pink Grapefruit, which, conveniently enough, happen to match Groovy Guava and Soft Sky!!! There are several sentiments on the hearts but I wanted the 'I Love You' one to be highlighted in the center. I used some patterned paper from the Happy Me kit by SU (I'm so sad it's no longer available!) and some Groovy Guava designer paper. The Soft Sky strip is also stamped with a 'Happy' background stamp which is in the third new stamp set by MFT, called Happy Occasions! I pop dotted the main panel and added coordinating ribbon and a white button with some linen thread!

Did you know that every week in the MFT forum over on SCS, our very own Cindy Haffner posts a sketch challenge?? There's a new one every Monday and I used this week's sketch for today's card!! Sketches are My Favorite Thing!!! Go HERE if you wanna do it too!!!

Don't forget that tomorrow night there's a Cocktail Party in the MFT forum from 9-11pm EST!! There will be lots of fun and chatter, as well as some games and of course, the release of the new sets!!! HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!! Unfortunately, I have to work until 8:30pm, but I'll be hopping into my pj's as soon as I get home and gettin' comfy in from of my 'puter to join in the par-tay!!! Hope you can join us!!!!

MFT Sneaky Peek - Day 1

Today marks the start of the sneaky peeks for My Favorite Things' January Stamp Release!!! It has been SO hard to play with these sets and NOT share them with you!!! Ugh!! But today I CAN!! And then it was SO hard to decide which project to show you!!! Good grief!! A girl can only take so much pressure!! Heehee!! Anyway, here is Sneaky Peek #1!!!

The stamp set I used for this card is from Punny Farm which is just a hoot!! It has all sorts of barnyard animals, punny sayings and of course, the famed headless woman!! I think this set is going to literally FLY off the shelves!!!

I started by stamping a single cow on Papertrey white cardstock, then masking her and stamping her again on either side of the first one. Keep in mind that I got these stamps on the same day that my very first Copic markers showed up, so the colouring may not be fantastic yet....but I'm practicing! Anyhoo, I coloured the cows with varying shades of brown and I tried to do a little shading, then added the rich pomegranate colour to the flowers in her mouth. The card base is a chocolate chip square and the matting colours are Pretty in Pink and Purely Pomegranate. I paper pierced the corners of the main layer and also used my Mat Pack along the pink strip at the bottom on either side of the cute sentiment. The scalloped piece was made using my corner rounder and then I stamped a tiny flower from Boho Blossoms in each scallop. Then I added some pomegranate coloured rhinestones and rhinestone flowers and then pop dotted the cow layer! I'm quite pleased with the way this turned out!! And you should SEE the rest of the animals!!

In your blog hopping today, be sure to check out the blogs and galleries of the other MFT Design Team Members as they will have some sneaky peeks for ya too!! And don't forget to make time in your schedule on Wednesday night for the big release par-tay!!! Head on over to the MFT forum on SCS to check out all the details!!!

Have a super stampy day!!!

Life's Simple Pleasures!

There are lots of exciting things going on this week for me!!! Tomorrow will kick off the sneaky peeks of the January My Favorite Things Releases!!! Just WAIT 'til you see......!!! I've been having a ball playing with all THREE new stamp sets!! The sneak peeks start tomorrow and then on Wednesday, January 9th at 9pm EST, there will be another awesome Cocktail Party in the MFT forum over at Splitcoaststampers!! There will be more sneak peeks, lots of fun and a chance to become a Guest Designer for My Favorite Things!! And then of course, the release of the NEW STAMPS!!! Aaaghhhhh!!! Pass me my paper bag....I'm hyperventilating!!! Whew!! I'd LOVE to show you what I've been working on.....but you'll just have to wait and see!!!

I've also been thinking about more challenges. Are ya up for it???? What are your favourite challenges.....sketches, colour combos, themes....?? Tell me!!! I have some AMAZING PRIZES up my sleeves too!!!! Lots of fun!!!

Okay, calm down, Kim!!! The card. Today's card is an Edwin Magnolia stamp. My faves are the Tildas but I love the Edwins too! This one I had already stamped up and sitting on my craft table when my Copic markers showed up on Christmas Eve. So I started fooling around with them, of course and I coloured up this little guy. I just pulled out some random markers and started colouring! The cardstock is Papertrey white which seems to be great for the Copics and I ticketed corner punched the corners and matted it on Ballet Blue and the green is coordinating cardstock to go with the Paper Studio patterned papers. I added some orange brads, pop dotted it, added some American Crafts ribbon and stamped the A Muse sentiment on the bottom. Oh and of course I added Stickles to his wings!! So sweet!

So be sure to check back tomorrow for an MFT sneak peek!!! Heehee!!!

Play Date in Petrolia!!!

Well, we had a great day yesterday!!! I packed up my car with all my goodies and left the house around 9:45am. The weather was very cold but nice and sunny so it was wonderful for driving. I listened to a Janet Evanovich book on cd in the car, which made the hour and a quarter drive very enjoyable.

Mom and Dad met me in Petrolia and Dad took off to Timmy's for a coffee and let Mom and I go stamp shopping!!!! We went over to Phebe's store, The Town Scrapper which is in the front room of her home. The kids were out building a snow fort on the front lawn and having a ball!

Phebe was in the middle of doing inventory and apologized for the store, but it really wasn't bad at all!! There were shelves with Whipper Snappers and High Hopes and Sunshine Designs. There were shelves with lots of pretty patterned papers and cans of lucious Prima flowers! And of course the racks of Magnolias........oooooeeeeee!!! So we shopped and talked and shopped and talked!! I also gave Phebe a basket full of my cards to sell in her store on consignment and I really hope they do well! We'll see what happens! I just LOVE how Phebe gets so excited over my creations! It makes me feel so good! She is so sweet and so completely generous! Love ya Phebe!!! *wave*

Then we figured that it was time to meet up with Dad and go for lunch!! So we walked back out to both of our cars in the parking lot and I called him on his cell phone, thinking he was still up the street at the coffee shop. I was talking to him and telling him to come back to where we were, to go eat at this restaurant that Phebe recommended, called Actors and he said, 'Well, there are lots of people going in and out of here. Why don't we eat here then?' and I said 'Well, where are you?'....(I was thinking he was talking about some restaurant up the street where he was) and he said 'I'm sitting in the car right beside you!!!' and I turned around and sure enough, he was sitting in their car right beside where I was standing, laughing his fool head off!! He had seen us walk toward the cars but we didn't look in them, so we didn't see him and then he saw me take out my cell phone to call him and he just waited and answered the phone and thought it was really funny and had a good laugh!!! It was so funny!!

Anyway, lunch was fabulous!! Dad treated us all to lunch and we all had the yummy fish and chips!! It was SO good, I'm gettin' hungry just thinkin' about it!! We had a nice visit too. I really miss getting together with them and chatting since we moved away. THEN, after lunch, Mom wanted to back to Phebe's store......so we did!! We spent more money and it's all Mom's fault!! heehee! Yah, like she really twisted my arm!!! I bought two cans of Prima Minnie flowers, some pretty pastel spring patterned papers and some adorable Whipper Snapper stamps....you know I can't resist them!! I just LOVE stamp shopping!!! Can you relate??

Well, enough of my babbling! I'm sure you might like to hear about the card in the picture above!!!? Maybe. I have just been having SO much fun playing with my new Magnolias, so I hope you aren't getting sick of seeing them! I have ALL the new ones that Phebe has in her store and they are so sought after and hard to find, that she is sold out of some of them. But feel free to contact me and I can email you with what she does have available if you want to get your inky little fingers on some!

So this card features the adorable little Baking Tilda!! I thought she would be perfect for a Valentine card with her little heart shaped cookies! I stamped her in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured her in using my SU markers and watercoloured under her feet with my Aquapainter. I used Rose Red, Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink cardstock along with some Daisy Bucket Designs patterned paper. I used some of my yummy satin Chocolate Chip ribbon and I placed it in between the matting layers and pop dotted the top two layers of the panel for the 3-D look. The sentiment layer is made using the SU scallop punch and a couple of circle punches along with the Riveting stamp set and I paper pierced each scallop with my Mat Pack. Lastly I added sparkle to her little wings with Stardust Stickles and I added a little row of three Espresso Baubles from Stampingbella!

So if you are ever taking a drive around Southwestern Ontario and you're looking for a stampin'/scrapbookin' store to visit (I mean, aren't we always lookin' for that), be sure to stop by the Town Scrapper in Petrolia!! And tell Phebe that Kimmie sent ya!!! *wink*

You're Fabulous......Tilda!!

Today's my day off.....woohoooooooooo!!! And I'm goin' on a little trip!! I have mentioned before that I design cards for my friend Phebe who owns The Town Scrapper in Petrolia, Ontario. Well, today I am driving the hour and a half it takes to get there to see her! That is where I get all my precious Magnolia stamps!! She carries lots of other stuff too, but my favourites are the Tildas and the Edwins!!

Anyway, apparently there have been requests to purchase my cards from customers! So that is my first big adventure for 2008.....I will be selling my creations on consignment in Phebe's store!! How exciting!! So I've spent the last couple of days stamping the backs of my cards, packaging them up with envelopes and putting a label on each one with my information.....I call them Kraftin' Kimmie's Kreations!! Is that too cheesy?? I've also made up little business cards and stamped on them too! Can you tell I'm a little excited??

Also I am meeting my Mom (she's a stamper too) and Dad (he's not....but he'll drop her off at the store with me and go to Timmy's for a coffee....heehee) in Petrolia and then we will go out for lunch.....after the store visit, of course!! Fun!!

So this card I made over the weekend with my new Tilda and her basket stamp! For this one I stamped her in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink on 140lb watercolour paper and used my SU markers to colour her in. The colours are taken from the Fancy Pants designer paper that I used. The card base is Perfect Plum along with Cameo Coral. Tilda is all sparklie on her wings with the help of my trusty Stardust Stickles and I also put a tiny little ribbon bow on her basket with a glue dot. I added three Plum eyelets on the right hand side but my favourite is the sentiment panel. I took a Heidi Swap white flower and used a brad to attach it to the card. Then I made the sentiment layer using my round scallop punch from SU and two circle punches. The sentiment is from Verve Visual from the Uplifting Phrases set and the circle border is from the Wonderful Wishes set. I used my Stardust Sakura gel pen and went over the border and the sentiment to make it sparkle and added the little dots in each scallop using my white gel pen. Then I pop dotted the whole thing onto the white flower! Ta daaaaaa!!

So I guess I'd better go get ready to go on my little trip!! Have a great day!!!

Wonderful Friends!!!

LOOKIT, LOOKIT, LOOKIT!!!! Isn't my new blog banner BEAUTIMOUS????????!! I came home from a long first day back at work and I got a sweet email from my friend and fellow High Hopes Design Team member, Julie!!! She thought that since Christmas was over and I had to take down the holiday banner she made me, that I might like a pretty new one!!!!! I 'bout teared up here!!! I'm gettin' all misty thinking about all the wonderful generous people that I've met over the last almost year here in blogland!!! And Julie is one of them!!! THANKS JULIE!!!! Mwah!!! xoxoxox

Build a Bouquet!!

Today I thought I'd share a project with you that I actually made at least a month ago!! I couldn't show it to you before because it was for my Mom and she didn't get it until Christmas!! And because she is one of my loyal readers, I knew she would see it if I posted it!!

I made this long shopping list type notepad using my Bind-It-All. I started out by cutting down some thinner chipboard that I had from one of my packages of SU designer paper. I made it the size I wanted and then covered it with Soft Sky dp. I cut some printer paper down to the right size and put it all together with my Bind-It-All. Then I worked on the cover. I stamped my image and some extra flowers on Papertrey's white cardstock. I used some VersaMagic Dew Drop Chalk inks that someone had given me called Sea Breeze and Pink Grapefruit and they just happen to match Soft Sky and Groovy Guava. The chalky type craft ink sticks better to the acrylic stamps, I find. The stamp set I used is a beautiful floral set by My Favorite Things, called Build a Bouquet! This was my first time using it and it was so fun and easy! I made the main panel and layered some of the extra stamped flowers on top of the first one and attached them with a glittery brad. I did the same beside the oval sentiment panel. For this I used the word 'create' and the tiny flowers from Boho Blossoms. I finished it off by tying coordinating stitched grosgrain ribbons on the spiral binding at the top! So easy but so cute and made especially for my Mom!! **Hi Mom!!**

There are some exciting things going on next week at My Favorite Things!! I have been playing around with the new January releases and I'm DYING to show them to you!! But.........I can't!! You'll have to wait!!! Heehee....I'm such a tease!!!

But you can join in the fun at the MFT Forum on Wednesday, January 9th when we will be having a New Release Cocktail Party from 9-11pm Eastern time!! There will be sneak peeks, a lot of fun and a chance to become MFT's newest Guest Designer!! And of course, the release of NEW STAMPS!!! What could be better...I ask you????

Well, it's back to work for me today.....and tonight. And my grey hair is really starting to show, so I'd better go dye it so I don't scare all the library patrons away.........wait......would that really be so bad???

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Wow! It's 2008, can you believe it??? I hope you all had an enjoyable and safe evening last night! As you can see by my late post, I slept in!! Hahaha!! THAT doesn't happen very often, I can assure you! Emileigh slept over at a friend's house last night and Al and I stayed in and spent the New Year together. We ordered in some yummy delicious pasta for dinner, then started to watch a movie. I like to do goofy stuff sometimes (you may have guessed that in the past...heehee!) and Al just goes with the flow and comes along for the ride. Well, I decided that it would be fun to bring up the futon mattress from the basement, lay it on the livingroom floor and bring down blankets and pillows and have a 'drive-in movie theatre' type evening with our new big-screen TV !! It was so cool, kind of like we were little kids again, eating snacks and stuff in front of the big movie screen. Unfortunately our brand new TV decided to cake out on us about 20 minutes before midnight.....that was super!! We were right in the middle of the movie and all of a sudden, the stupid thing shut off!!! And we couldn't get it to come back on again.......nice. You can be sure that we will be getting a replacement some time this week!! Anyway, Emileigh called us about 5 seconds before midnight and we counted down together!! It was fun anyway!!

On to today's card!!! You may have seen me play with the newest Angel by High Hopes last week and I had fun playing with her a couple more times over the holidays!! She just happens to be part of this months Project of the Month Stamping Special over at the website!!! Not only are they brand new releases, but they are on special for January.....how awesome!!!

Now this was actually my very first try with my new Copic Markers that I got for Christmas!! I stamped Trish the Tea Angel in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink on some white Papertrey cardstock. Now I have read other stampers say that this particular ink bleeds with the alcohol based markers but I had it stamped up already anyway so I used it anyway and it seemed to be fine. I think that if you leave it to dry long enough or heat seat it, you should be okay. Anyway, I will be experimenting with other inks and papers and see what works best.

So I chose this soft coloured paper by Melissa Frances to use with this angel. I found the matching colours in my Copics boxes A and B and just played around. The ink goes on so smoothly and leaves almost no lines at all, like water based markers do. The card base is Pale Plum and I used Soft Sky and Pretty in Pink to matte the main image. I pop dotted it between the SS and PP layers and used my slot punch to make holes in each side for the ribbon to run through. I added some Prima flowers along with some rhinestone brads in the corner, sparkled up her wings and the heart shaped steam with my Stardust Sakura gel pen and added a lovely little mini ribbon poof on the side. The ribbon poof is inspired by my friend and fellow MFT design team member, Pam Bassett who does the most magnificent ribbon poofs and I'm just DYING for her to do a little tutorial on them, because mine just don't measure up!!!

When I showed Emileigh this card, she said she think it looks like a Precious Moments figurine and that really made my day!! I LOVE Precious Moments and I have a few of the figurines myself but I wish I could get my hands on ANY of the PM stamps!! Anyway, I was really pleased with my first shot with the Copics!!

Anyway, Happy New Year and many blessings to you and yours for 2008!! I hope you have the day off and get a chance to do some stampin'!!!