When is Release Day??

WOW!! I must say you gals certainly are excited about new rubber, aren't you?? Heehee! Almost as excited as I am!! ALMOST!!

So you've met our amazing illustrators.....and you've met our fantastically talented Krafty Girls!! I bet you'd like to know when you can get your inky little fingers on these babies.....yes??? Well, the official release date is Monday, October the 5th.....just over a week away!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeek!! Can you believe it?? And we will start previewing the designs on the Friday before and every day leading up to release time!!! Woohoooooooo! Now we may also share some snippets of images too between now and then...so keep your eyes peeled!!!

If you are local to southwestern Ontario, you may want to mark Sunday, October 4th off on your calendar and make plans to join me at Scrappin' Great Deals !!! The totally generous owner of SGD, Sheila, is throwing me a LAUNCH PARTY!! Can you believe that??? All afternoon you'll be able to come in to the store and celebrate with us!!!

And my Krafty Girls are SO fabulous, that all the local chickies (and some NOT so local) will BE THERE to stamp with!!!! The DT gals that will be on hand to yak with, shop with and stamp with are Andrea, Diana, Tara and Vicki!! And not only THAT.....but one of Kraftin' Kimmie's super amazing artists will be coming HOURS to hang out with us! CRISSY is gong to be on hand to do a colouring demo and show us her skillz!!! Besides all that amazing-ness, we'll have snacks and refreshments, free make and takes.....OH and of course....NEW RUBBER!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaahhh! I can't stand it!!! (Oh and I'll be there too.)

So I hope you can make it out to help me celebrate my new adventure in stamping!!

Let's Meet Kimmie's Krafty Girls!!!

So how would you like to meet the wonderful team of creative gals who are helping me make my stampin' dream come true???? I knew you would!! Let's do this in alphabetical order (Andrea will love that!).



If you follow my blog at all, you will recognize the name Andrea as she is my stampin' soul sistah!! We met about a year ago, and the minute we did, we got along like a house on fire!!! We teach classes together at Scrappin' Great Deals and stamp together when our schedules permit (and sometimes when they don't!). She loves her Copics almost as much as I love mine...she says she's leaving them to her kids in her will! Lucky girls! I'm so happy to have her on my team!



Now please meet my Mommy!!! Diana has been stamping about as long as I have because I pretty much led her down the inky path of papercrafting!! She blames her addiction on me....and I don't mind! She's always been supportive of everything I've ever done in my life and now is no different! She even created her own blog....just for me!! Go say hello!!




You may know Elaine as 'quixotic' over on Splitcoast. She is from the south coast of the UK and has her own online store! Her beautiful Copic work just jumped right off the screen the minute I saw it! She's admitted to being a paper and ribbon hoarder (aren't we all, really?) and is totally addicted to her Copic markers.....she fits right in, methinks!!




And what can I say about Jeanne? She's totally been my right-hand gal and I couldn't have gotten this far with my company without her guidance and support! Not only is she an incredible artist with her gorgeous creations, she's an incredibly generous gal! Jeanne is constantly stamping and colouring and designing.....I'm not sure when or if she really sleeps! I'm so fortunate and grateful for her friendship!!




I've known Niki for a few years now as we have worked together on a couple of design teams. She is a sweet and lovely gal with such a wonderful spirit . When I told Niki that I was starting my own stamp company, she said she would love to help me out by designing with my stamps before she'd even seen them! Of course I was thrilled and jumped right on her offer! She has such a clean and crisp style and I can't wait to see what she designs with the new images!




Again, if you've been around my blog at all, you'll also recognize the name Tara!! We met through our blogs a couple of years ago and finally got to meet up in person when we went to the Copic Certification workshop in Toronto a few months back and that was SO fun ! We also do a Kimmie and Tara's Challenge thing every couple of months, which is always a hoot. Tara's style is so unique and she has such a way with layering and texture and colour. And Tara is in town on business near me this week, so we get to hang out on Thursday night...yaaaaaay!!




Lastly, please meet Vicki!!! If you don't already know her....the girl's a hoot! At least that's what I hear, 'cause we've never met in person. Me, I'm just a wallflower, as you know (*cough*), so I'm not sure how we're gonna get along when we meet later this month....oops! Almost let something slip there.....I'll share more later! Vicki is a fantastic colourer (is that a word?) and cardmaker. Her designs are so sassy!

So as you can see I have a totally AMAZING design team....and I'm thrilled to say they are also my friends (heck, one is even related to me)!! I'm just over the moon that they are all helping me to share my company with you!!

Now show some love for my Krafty Girls!!!!!!!!!

Exciting News to Share!!!

Well, some of you have already seen my big news but some of you probably haven't......so here it is!!!

My friend Katharina is making her dream come true, by starting her own stamp company!!! She is an amazing artist and a super nice gal and I check her blog out every day!! Well, when I was over there the other day, I saw her announcement and a sneak peek of one of the images!



Is that just too cute or what??? This is Charlotte. I love her big eyes, don't you?? Well, Katharina had announced her Design Team and then asked for people to submit their creations for a Guest Designer spot. I thought, how wonderful to be able to work with these gorgeous new stamps and to work with Katharina, who is uber-talented!! So I made a card using her sketch and emailed it to her, saying that I would love to be a Guest Designer but I understand she's probably got a lot of interest, so if not this time, maybe next time.

WELL! I got an email back from Katharina the very next morning, asking me if I would like to be a PERMANENT member of her Design Team!!!! AAACCKK!! Of course, I said yes!! I am SO thrilled to be able to begin this exciting adventure with Katharina and her truly talented Design Team! The store will be called Whiff of Joy!

Here is another picture of one of her new images, this one is called Charlie!



I believe that she will start taking preorders for them soon!! I don't know about you but I'm itchin' to get my fingers on them!!

And as if THAT excitement isn't enough, Katharina also has the totally amazing artist Elisabeth Bell on board!!! She will be designing exclusive stamps for Whiff of Joy!
Wanna see some???



This is the first girl.....



...and this is the boy!!

Katharina is running a contest to name these two cutie-pies, so head over and make some suggestions! You could WIN some stamps!!!

She is also looking for a Guest Designer and you still have time to enter!! Just use her wonderful sketch and submit your creation!!! Wouldn't you love to play with those new images???!!! Who wouldn't?!

So that's my totally exciting news and thanks for letting me share it with you! Have a stampin' good day!!!

Some Exciting News!!!

Okay, I know I'm a little late posting today but I had some errands to run. I took Emileigh to school at 8:20am so I figured I'd just keep going from there and drive all over and do all my running around while I was already out. SO I ran over to the library in another town to pick up and drop off some audio books, then I jumped into Michael's to use my 50% off coupon and got the new Big Bite!! Yippee! Then, since I was in the 'big town' anyway, I figured I might as well go over to Stamp Art and use my $25 gift card!!! And I did!! I picked up one of those new Fiskars fingertip control cutting knives, so now I can cut out even the tiniest pieces on my Magnolias and things. I also got more Creative Impressions sheer blossoms, some new floral ric rac and I treated myself to some new circle Nestabilities!! So I can play today until I go in to work and all day tomorrow, because I'm off!!

Okay, so that's not my exciting news!! This is: I was asked to join the amazing ladies on the Design Team for All That Scraps!! Can you believe it?!! They carry so many wonderful things in their online store but I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their own line of stamps called CC Designs!!! SO adorable!! Well, I haven't received a DT package yet, but I wanted to play anyway, so I used some of the few CC stamps that I do have on a couple of cards.




Today's card is for a DT Challenge to make a Gatefold card! I haven't made one of these in a long time and I just made a simple one, to go with the images which are nice and simple too. I used the little Piggie from the Love Ya Lots set and used my Marvy punches to create the centre piece. The card base is white and I used some dp from my giant box of K&Company papers from Costco. I stamped the Hugs sentiment from Little Penguins and added some yummy opal baubles. I paper pierced all around the frame and also in each scallop and pop dotted the main image. I also made Piggie's chubby little face 3-D!

So needless to say, I am rather excited about playing with the adorable new stamps that All That Scraps is creating these days!! And just WAIT 'til you see the ones for July!!! Eeeek!!

April MFTeaser.....A Wheelbarrow Full of Blooms!!

Okay, I know I said I was sick of winter, but now it's POURING rain!!! I mean torrential downpour and crazy winds!!! All I want is a little warm sunshine...is that too much to ask??? *sheesh*

Here is today's Teaser for the My Favorite Things April Release!! For this one I used the wheelbarrow stamp from the new Can Ya Dig It? set that will be available on Wednesday night. I used nice, bright SPRINGY colours on this one!!! The card base is Pixie Pink and the coordinating patterned papers are from the K&Company box. I put a strip of Cool Caribbean in the middle and attached a piece of sparkly pink ric rac with some brads. the focal piece is the wheelbarrow which I coloured in using my Copic markers and then I 'filled' it by attaching some tiny Prima blooms with brads. I punched it out with my Marvy Oval Punch and the matted piece is PPink cut out with my marvy Giga Scalloped Oval Punch. I pop dotted it on the card and stamped the sentiment directly onto the dp and added a little row of pink Dew Drops.

Don't forget to join us for inky fun in the MFT Forum on SCS tomorrow night between 9-11pm EST! The new sets and some lovely new Digital Paper will be released at 10:30pm and you can also learn how to become our very next Guest Designer!!! Woohoo!! See ya there!!!

Oh and try to keep dry today........I have a sneaky feeling this is going to be a bad hair day!!!

April MFTeaser .....and a sketch!!!

Sorry I'm late this morning.....had a bit of a sleepy start!! But I'm on my second cuppa joe, so I should be okay now!!! I also had to take a bunch of photos of my weekend creations and it's rather bleak and overcast here in Ontario, so I had to fiddle with them a bit in Photoshop!!

Anyhoooooo...here is my first Teaser for a new My Favorite Things set called Happy Mother's Day! Easy enough name to remember, right?? It's this perfect mini set, just right for making M-Day cards and gifts, but also for any women in your life that you just want to say thanks to. It comes with the main focal image, already framed with a lovely sentiment that runs all the way around the outside, which you can stamp all in one piece, or trim off the outside frame and use just the image. Then there is the little floral photo corner stamp that I just LOVE....so purty!!! And the sentiment, Have a Wonderful Mother's Day!!

I stamped the main square on Wausau bright white cardstock and coloured it in using my Copic markers and my jump off point was actually a piece of the Ginger Blossom SU dp! I didn't end up using that particular piece, but it was my inspiration! (**Also yesterday I was asked which Copic I used for skin colour on my images. I almost always use E00 which is called Skin White.) The card base is regular size in Ruby Red and the patterned paper is another piece from the Ginger Blossom pack and I stamped the photo corners on top of it and coloured them in using my Copics. I added a scalloped Groovy Guava piece at the bottom and don't you LOVE the flowers at the bottom?? The middle one is a Prima Fancy satin flower but the back one is actually a white Magenta flower. Don'tcha wanna know how I make it all polka dotted like that??? Well, you'll have to wait until the Release Party to find out!!!

Also, I used today's MFT Sketch Challenge of the week for this card!!!! Be sure to head over to SCS and check out MFTSC24. It's nice and easy and perfect for any set with a square focal image!

This set, along with another great set and another set of digital paper, will be released on Wednesday night!!! We will be having another awesome Cocktail Party, full of yakkin' and stampin' and you can even find out how to become the next MFT Guest Designer!!! Woohoo!! So be sure to save Wednesday night on your calendar....all the fun starts over at SCS in the MFT Forum at 9pm EST!!

High Hopes Peekaboo Day 4!!!

I can't believe that I'm posting for a third time today!!! Here is your fourth and final Peekaboo!!! Any guesses?? I'm hoping this one's a little more difficult!! But you won't have to wait much longer........they'll all be up tomorrow!!

And don't forget that you still have the weekend to participate in my sketch challenge for a Magnolia stamp!!! You know you want it!!! Here's the post for details!!

High Hopes Peekaboo Day 3!!!!

Okay, you gals are too good!! I'm gonna make this one harder!!!



Any guesses??? Oh and I'm playing with this one right now!!! I LOVE to tease!! Moooowaaaaahhhaaaahhaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Tilda's Got a Present!!

Yay, it's hump-day!! Just have to work 1-8:30pm and the week will be more than half over. And it's a long one for me too!! We will be short one person at work today as one of my coworker's had a little accident in her family. Her little guy broke his leg on the bunny hill when he went skiing!! He has a cast from his ankle up and over his knee!! He is only 6 and has a hard time hobbling around on those crutches, so they've got him a wheelchair. He is doing fine and he thinks this is cool.....for now anyway!! So it may be a busy day!

Do you wanna see a card?? Okay! I decided to make Tilda have dark hair today. I normally colour her hair using my Sand or Brick Beige Copic marker or even Buttercup Yellow, but today I went for DARK hair, like me!! The card base is a Chocolate Chip square and the patterned papers are by Scrapbook Walls. I like the contrast of the chocolate colours against the soft peachy colours. She is carrying her little present to give to someone! I used a Copic that matches Soft Sky and it is called Cool Shadow for her wings and then used the Soft Sky stitched grosgrain ribbon across the middle. I added some fancy brads that I picked up ages ago at the dollar store and then some Prima Hydrangeas and attached them with glittery brads......love those things! As usual, I finished her off with Stardust Stickles for her pretty wings!!!

So I see some of you are as excited as I am to check out the upcoming High Hopes releases!!! I will be back later today with another High Hopes Peekaboo for you!!! I also received the go-ahead today to post any samples made with them even before they are officially released!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!! So you may get to see some Peekaboos with a little more substance ..... and very soon....what do you think about that?! Guess I'd better get going so I can get something done before I head in to the library!!

Toodle-oo and have a stampin' great day!!!!



P.S. Don't forget to enter my challenge to win a Magnolia!! See the post from yesterday!!

Kim Times Two!!!

Remember how I told you that I had something cool in the works for yesterday?? Well, it worked out and I have pictures to show!!!

You know how I am on the Design Team for a fabulous company called My Favorite Things???? Well, do you know who lives in Florida?? Kim Vandersanden, the creator and owner of MFT!!!! She knew that we were coming to Florida on vacation and she made it a priority to see us!!! How sweet is she???

So we found a mid point between her home and our condo and figured that Lakeland would be our meeting place. We googled to find a stamp/scrapbook store to visit and we found Violette's!! So we pulled into the parking lot at almost the same time and it was so great to finally meet the lady who flattered me to no end by asking me to join her Design Team and has been so generous to me over the last few months!! And she is just as sweet in 'real life' as she is online!

Well, we walked into Violette's and our jaws hit the floor!! The place was both gigantic and full of yummalicious stuff and adorable and quaint at the same time. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven! There was SO much to look at and we hadn't even gotten around the first room, when my husband and daughter, who had scoped out the whole place in a matter of minutes, came over and told us that there were many more rooms to visit! It was at that point that they decided to go for a drive and leave Kim and I to do some serious shopping!! My honey is the bestest stampin' hubby a girl could ask for. He took off with Emileigh and they amused themselves elsewhere while letting Kim and I shop through all TEN, yes, I said TEN rooms in the store. They came back about an hour and a half later and we were just about done by then! I had Al take a couple of pics of Kim and I with Diana, the manager of Violette's!



Well, after we did some damage at Violette's, we headed over to the Lakeland Mall and had some lunch! We desperately needed nourishment to continue on our shopping journey!! We all yakked and visited while chowing down and then we were ready to shop again! We picked up a few things at different stores but the major score was at the local Disney store which was closing at that particular location. Everything in the store was 50% OFF!! Can you believe that??? We got t-shirts and pj's, mugs and toys!! We got birthday presents and Christmas presents for like, the next ten years!!! Okay, so that's a bit of an exaggeration!! But we did well. And of course, I had to think about my luggage and packing it all, so I really restrained ourselves!! I mean, it was physically painful to leave the store and all those great deals behind! I really could have gotten SO much more!

So after hours of getting to know each other while spending money, Kim had to head home again. So we headed out to the parking lot and Kim has the greatest car, a Mini Cooper! Emileigh was in love with it and I think Al fancied it too! So he took a pic of the two Kims in front of it!!



Well, it turned out to be a great day and I'm so thankful that we were able to get together! Thanks Kim, for driving all that way to meet us! We love ya, babe!!

OH, and if you sat through and read all the blabber, I am rewarding you with a picture of this lovely card!! Hahaha!



It's pretty self explanatory but I used this Tilda on the new bench and the sentiment is from the MFT set, By the Seashore. I just love the font ....and I wanted to send you some sunshine from Florida!! Heehee!!

Well, we are packing up tonight and our suitcases are fit to bursting!! I just hope we're not overweight with our luggage!! If we are, I'm throwing out some clothes, because there's no way I'm losing any of my stampin' scores!! hahaha!!! We'll be flying back to Detroit tomorrow afternoon around 4pm and then we drive home. Back to the snow! Ick!!

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

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!!!

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!!!

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!!!

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!!!

Designer Snowflake!!!

Wow!! What an evening!! Last night was the December Release Party on SCS for the new My Favorite Things stamps and let's just say my head is still spinning!! I got to see a lot of you over there, so you know what I'm talking about!!

We all met in the MFT forum at 9pm EST and had a blast!! Everyone was yakkin' and asking questions and the thread was moving a mile a minute!!! There were some sneaky peeks of the new sets, there is a contest to be a Guest Designer which ends tonight and there was a gift to everyone from Kim at MFT!!!

To be a MFT Guest Designer for January, see this thread for all the details!! You can win all the January release stamp sets and be on our Design Team for January!! We will be running this contest every month and it's gonna be fun!!

Also as a holiday gift to YOU, there is a coupon code for 20% off most items in the MFT store so be sure to use the code SCS1207 when you place your order. This code is good for a couple of days so don't miss out!!

So here is one of my creations for the release using Baby It's Cold Outside!! Actually I think this is my favourite of my own creations this time around. I got a bare wood cutout of a snowflake at Michael's in the $ spot and brought it home, knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it!!!

First I traced the snowflake onto this awesome designer paper by Heidi Grace and attached it to the wood. I stamped the BICOutside image onto SU watercolour paper and coloured her in using my SU markers and outlined the snowman and the snow using my Sakura Stardust gel pen. I also paper pieced her winter coat using some coordinating dp, matted the whole thing and added a snowflake brad by Karen Foster. I used a length of grosgrain ribbon to hang it from and added some yummy white organdy ribbon at the top and bottom. The bells charm at the top is actually from some wine charms that I found and I added it to the tag I made at the top using the BICOutside sentiment. Then I finished it off by placing some of my Mother of Pearl Bellas Baubles on each point of the snowflake.........aaaaaaaaaand I just noticed now that I missed a few of the points.........how embarassing!! Well, I guess now you know that I'm not perfect........baaaaaahahahaha!! I'll have to go back and fix that. Whoops.

Anyway, have a wonderful day. I hope you are getting all set for the holidays but enjoying yourself at the same time!! And in order to do that, you MUST stamp something.....Kimmie says!!

Friends Brighten Your Day!!!

Good morning stampers!! It's another day in paradise..........well, not really! It's snowin' again here in sunny Southwestern Ontario. But today I don't mind so much, because I only work the evening shift at the library!! Whippee!! So I have big plans for today! I need to get the last 5 of my Christmas card orders done, make a couple more samples for the 'big show' tonight and tidy this craft room....it's atrocious!!! So I don't mind lookin' out the window at the white stuff falling down, as long as I'm inside, all toasty warm with my coffee and my fuzzy socks!!

Here is another sneaky peek at one of the new My Favorite Things stamp sets that will be released tonight at the Cocktail Release Party over on SCS! As much as I love Baby It's Cold Outside, I think THIS one is MY favourite!! I mean, who doesn't love umbrellas and wellies (that means wellington boots, for you non-British folk)?? The set comes with some adorable sentiments like, I'll be your umbrella, Rain or Shine, Feeling Under the Weather? and Friends Brighten Your Day. It also has a polka dotted umbrella, a cloud and some raindrops.

For this card, I pulled out my Cutie Pie designer papers by Stampin' Up. Boy, it's a good thing I ordered some more during the Paper Party Promotion, because I LOVE this colour combo and the designs!! The card base is a regular sized So Saffron card with some Rose Red matting the two types of dp on the front. I stamped the adorable image on some Fabriano watercolour paper in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured it in using my SU markers. I paper pieced her raincoat with another of the Cutie Pie dps and covered the puddle of rain in Crystal Effects, although you can't really tell in the picture, but it really looks like water in real life....I swear!! Then I stamped the raindrops in Bashful Blue all around the girl and her weiner dog!! I matted it in BB and Certainly Celery and then added some Prima Sprites, a Rose Red button and some linen thread!!

Well, I'm off to get busy and I hope to see you all tonight! I'll be rushing home from work and joining all the fun in the My Favorite Things forum! The party begins at 9pm EST!! There will be some awesome projects revealed (mine included....I'm so excited!), some giveaways, a coupon code, a cool challenge and YOU, yes YOU could become a Guest Designer for MFT!! Woohoo!!! See you there!!!

MFT Notebooks!!!

I've had a lot of fun playing with It's a Jungle Out There which was from the October release by My Favorite Things. It is so cute and I love all the crazy animals, especially that monkey!



So I am still whipping up some little notepads with my Bind-it-All for stocking stuffers and additional gifts. I'm happy with this little trio of jungle animals.



I stamped them on Fabriano watercolour paper using Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured them in using my SU markers. Then I used those awesome little leafy stamps and stamped all around the frame of the main image in matching ink to make it look like they were in the middle of the African jungle!!! Ooooooo!! I also used my handy dandy Marvy Punches and matted them and I used different patterned papers for each one, depending on the colours I used for each animal. Then I stamped a coordinating sentiment and what's so great about acrylic stamps is that they aren't fixed on a wood block so you can curve and bend the sentiment to your will to make it stamp where YOU want it to stamp! So as you can see, I bent a couple of them around the main image! So I bound them and accented with matching ribbons!! So purdy!!



Now don't forget to meet me tomorrow night for the December Release Cocktail Party over at SCS in the My Favorite Things forum!! There will be give aways, coupon codes, a challenge and sneak peeks. Find out on Wednesday how you can become a MFT Guest Designer!! The fun all begins at 9pm EST!! Woohoo!! See ya there!!

Christmas Card Tin!!

Well, it's been a very long and busy weekend....but it's over. Thanks to everyone who gave me some suggestions....I really appreciate it! We got the turkey in at 7am and made the squash and potatoes and put them each in a slow cooker on warm. That way we had less to do at the last minute. Everything went fairly smoothly, but let's just say I'm glad that it's over!!!

I'm very excited this week though because it will be my first release as a Design Team Member with My Favorite Things!! I've been working hard in my 'spare time' to create some great samples with the new stamps and I just hope that my creations meet MFT's expectations! The other members of the team are SO awesome, I'm just at TAD nervous about my designs!!

Anyway, here is my first one using the new set Baby It's Cold Outside!! I found these awesome tins at the dollar store and each one is red and white striped with a lid and a swivel handle. Well, I don't like to hang all my Christmas cards up around my house and if you set them up on tables and shelves, they just fall down or rather get BLOWN down, what with my crazy Jack Russell Terrier, Daisy racing all over the house!! So I decided to make a cute little decorative tin to put them all in!!

I used the Winter Bright designer papers and adhered it to the tin using Sticky Strip and I punched out room for the handle with one of my circle punches. Then I attached the satin polka dotted ribbon around the top with Sticky Strip too. So easy! I stamped the little lady building a snowman on SU watercolour paper and used my SU markers to colour her in and also paper pieced her dress with more Winter Bright dp. I added 3 SU brads for buttons and made the snow, snowman and her boots all sparkly with Stardust Stickles!! I used one of the big snowflake cardstock stickers from the Simply Scrappin' kit and then I used one of my Cuttlebug Alphabets to make the title and ran the letters through my Xyron and attached them to the tin. I finished it off by adding some matching ribbon and a few silver jingle bells to the handle! It looks great in my livingroom, just waiting for my first Christmas cards!!!



OHMYGOSH!! I just checked the MFT site and I'm listed on The Team page!! I could just die!! I'm so excited!! This is too much for this early in the morning!! Wow!! I feel special! And don't forget to check out the other DT members' blogs for their sneaky peeks too!!

Anyway, here's some news for ya!! My Favorite Things is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, December 5 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time!! Head over to the MFT forum on Splicoaststampers to find out all the details and join us there on Wednesday night! There will be give aways, coupon codes, a challenge and sneak peeks. Find out on Wednesday how you can become a MFT Guest Designer!! Doesn't that sound like fun?? Now I have to work until 8:30pm that night, but you can bet your bippy I'll be partying when I get home!!! Hope you can stop by for some cocktails!!! See ya there!!!