MFTeaser Day 3!! and my Daisy Album!!!

Okay, this post will probably have the most pics of any previous post on this blog!!! hahaha!! But that's because this is a big project that I have been working on for this My Favorite Things release!!! So sit back with your cup of coffee (or glass of wine, depending on what time it is in your part of the world) and check out the pics of my little puppy album!!



I've had this idea for a while about creating a mini album all about our doggie Daisy and when Kim (The MFT Lady) sent me the new May release stamps, I was THRILLED to find two sets with dogs in them!! How perfect is that??



Even though Daisy is 5 years old, she is still our baby! We call her all sorts of names like Daisy Doo, Crazy Daisy, Daisy Duke, Daisy Maisy and some other, more choice names when we're mad at her!! Baaaahahahahaaaa!!



I started out by pulling out the thin pieces of cardboard from two of my Stampin' Up designer papers and cut them into quarters so that I had a total of eight 6x6 squares of cardstock. I covered them in an assortment of doggie patterned papers and embellishments, including lots of cute pictures of when we first got her and she was teeeeeny tiny! Feel free to click on any of the pictures to make them larger and see all the details!!



The mini set with the little boy hugging the giant dog and the dog tag shaped like a bone and all those perfect sentiments, make the new mini set, Friends Furever, a MUST have for me! I used the image and the tag several times with different sentiments throughout the book.



Of course I used the lady and the Jack Russell Terrier stamp from the new set Gone to the Dogs for the cover of the album!! It is supposed to be me and Daisy, but honestly, I don't wear skirts and heels all that often and definitely NOT while we are going for a walk!



I used a lot of doggie themed products that I have hoarded....I mean collected over the last couple of years. I used doggie papers, doggie buttons, doggie rubons, doggie brads and charms. I also found this twill ribbon covered in pawprints that I used for tabs on the side of each page. But the finished touches were really the awesome new doggie stamps from My Favorite Things! I also found this twill ribbon covered in pawprints that I used for tabs on the side of each page.



I completed the album by putting it all together with my handy dandy Bind-it-All machine! Now I have this awesome keepsake filled with Daisy's 'baby pictures'!!!

Don't forget that these stamp sets, plus an amazing travel set called Goin' Places, will be released tonight!! We are having a fun cocktail party over in the MFT Forum on SCS, from 9-11pm EST!! I am working tonight until 8:30pm, but I'll be at the party will bells on at 9pm!! I wouldn't miss it and I hope you can drop by for the fun!!! There will be lots of laughs and also find out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer.

See you tonight!!!

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

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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!!!

Happy Me!!

I'm having a lot of fun with the Simply Scrappin' Kits for Stampin' Up lately. Both of today's projects feature the Happy Me Level 3 Hostess reward and I LOVE it!! The SS kits really take the guess work out of a creation and give you an awesome jump off point with the fabulous colour combinations in each one!

The card I made used those awesome little penguins from My Favorite Things. This one is skating on a little pond which I stamped in Soft Sky on my Shimmery White cardstock. Then I stamped the little skater penguin in Archival Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured him in using my Prismacolor Pencils and OMS and also my SU ink and blender pens, since the new In Colors don't come in the markers. I doodled around the edge and then layerd on a combination of mats which the final layer being Purely Pomegrante which I punched with my Giga Scalloped Square punch. The card base is PP with some of the awesome designer paper from the SS kit and the top portion is some of the Soft Sky designer paper. I stamped the sentiment (which actually says Warm Winter Wishes, but I just inked up the portion I wanted) in Black Onyx ink on the Soft Sky dp and punched it out using the large oval punch and attached it with some white brads. Then I added two little pieces of the gorgeous Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon with two more white brads and then pop dotted the main image!



The second project was one that I finished for a Virtual Scrapbooking Challenge on SCS. It is a two page layout featuring the photos and memorabilia from the night that Emileigh and I went to the Midnight Magic Release Party for the new Harry Potter book. I used the same Happy Me SS kit which was just perfect for this layout! The main pages are the 12x12 textured Purely Pomegranate cardstock which are included in the kit (love these) and I also used strips of the awesome dp with that great colour combo of PP, Groovy Guava and Soft Sky. Love that combo!!

I included pictures of some of the fantastic costumes, our badges from being sorted into Gryffindor, the gold galleons we each received, the tickets for the Hogwarts Express that we received from the conductor at the door and the tickets from the Order of the Phoenix movie that we saw twice the week before!!

The quote reads: And now Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure. - Albus Dumbledore

The journaling reads: This was such a fun evening for Emileigh and I! We went to the Midnight Magic Release Party at Chapters for the final book in the Harry Potter series. There were so many fun things for the kids to do. Emileigh and I got 'sorted' into Gryffindor, which was fun. The atmosphere was so wonderful and so many people were dressed up! We saw Rita Skeeter, Hagrid, Professor Trelawney, Professor Snape, Moaning Myrtle and of course, Harry! It was an evening of adventure!!

So these awesome SS kits are not just for Scrappin' as you can see. They can be used to whip up some very cool cards too!! Hope you like 'em!! And thanks for stoppin' in!!

Cumberland Capers

I had so much fun working on my scrapbooks this weekend!! Virtual Scrapbook Weekend was fabulous as usual and the challenges gave me so much inspiration!! The challenges are all still up and open at this point. If you have some time to scrap over the next couple of days, be sure to go and get inspired and then upload your creations to the gallery!! The deadline is Wednesday afternoon.

So I thought I would share another layout with you today. This one is for my Florida trip scrapbook and features pictures from our drive down south and here we stopped at Cumberland State Park in Kentucky. I used these delicious patterned papers called Tres Jolie by My Mind's Eye along with some Very Vanilla cardstock. I did a lot of distressing on all the papers to give it that 'dirty' look. Some of the letters in the title are raised on pop dots and I just love the circle made from those awesome antique bronze brads with the heart one in the center. The journaling reads: So after driving all night, this was our first morning of our trip. It was VERY early in the a.m. on Saturday Feb. 24th. We were going on very little sleep and as you can see, we were acting a little silly! I was laughing so hard I could barely take the photos!

Have a fabulous day!!

One For the Money......

I did this layout a few weeks ago, but since it was the sample plage for my Virtual Scrapbooking Challenge, I couldn't share it with you all!! But VSBN started yesterday and my challenge was posted at 6pm EST, so here it is!!!

The theme for VSBN this month is to 'Curl Up with a Good Book', so all the challenges have to do with authors or titles or books!! It's been lots of fun so far and there will be more challenges posted today!! One of my favourite authors is Janet Evanovich and all the titles of her books have a number in them, so that's my challenge! Just include a number in the title of your layout and maybe throw some good ole bling on there, for good measure!! Oh and there is an awesome sketch to go with the challenge and I LOVE the sketch!!



So for my sample I used some pictures from the evening that Emileigh and I went to see the musical Oklahoma with my parents at Stratford. The title of my layout is 'One for the money.....Two for the Show'. I used my new Basic Grey Infuse patterned paper, matching diecuts and alphabets. I also added some lovely Prima flowers and for bling I put a bunch of clear glass beads in the centers of the flowers. And of course, I included our tickets from the show!

Now, the challenges are open until the middle of the week, so be sure to join in the fun!! You must limit your time to 2 hours for each challenge and then upload them to the SCS gallery by Wednesday afternoon. I'd LOVE to see some of you do my challenge, so if you do, be sure to link it back here!! I don't wanna miss any!! Go to this link to get all the deets for MY challenge!!!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!!!

Sweet Stuff!!

Today, I thought I'd change things up a bit and share one of my latest double page layouts! I wish I had more time to do scrapbooking, I have SO many pictures to get caught up on! Maybe I should call in sick....whaddya think?? Heehee!! I seem to do more cards lately because it's so much quicker!!

This layout is for my Florida trip album and these pics were taken when we spent a couple of days at Universal Studios. This was our visit to the Candy Factory and let me tell you....the smell in there was heaven!! They had demonstrations on how to actually make candy and it was so interesting! You can see the guy working with the semi-liquid candy on the bottom right there.

I've also learned over my years scrapbooking, to take, not only more pictures but more interesting pictures. Don't just take pics of the people you are with (although, I know take 2 or 3 times as many now as I did before scrapbooking), but be sure to take interesting pictures like signs and things. I think those are some of the best pics and they are so colourful and intersting!! I also included some fun ones of Emileigh and Al outside the shop and Emmy pretending to eat the giant suckers!! She's such a ham!!

For this layout I used black cardstock for the base pages and some colourful American Crafts patterned paper which sort of matches the ribbon that I used. I also used the Bold Brights colours including Only Orange, Green Galore and Pixie Pink. I added some pretty buttons with linen thread and a lavender coloured Prima Sprite. I love my alphabet stamps and especially the Doodle Alphabet which I used here because I could colour it in with my SU markers in whatever colours I want!!

Have a super SWEET day!!!

Photo Ops!!

Look at you ladies go!! There were a total of 15 entries for the Black and Pastel Challenge!! They were all awesome creations, so make sure to go back and check them all out!! I just LOVE a challenge and I'm so glad you do too!! The randomly drawn winner for this one is.............FLOSSIE!! So email me your snail mail and I'll get your Kimmie's Kandy out to you this week!!!



I thought it was time to post a scrapbook layout!! I am working away on the pictures from our Florida trip in a 12x12 album. This layout is of a bunch of pictures taken at the side of a winding road up the side of a mountain in Kentucky. I love these Basic Grey Stella Ruby papers. I also used Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss and Rose Red. I added a nice big Prima flower and some square rhinestones. The title is done with Basic Grey chipboard letters and sponging. I called it Photo Op because it was our first real Photo Opportunity on our journey!!



Well, I'm working all day today at the library but this evening Emileigh and I have a date....with each other!! Hahaha!! Emileigh absolutely LOVES musicals and I LOVE the theatre. So I got tickets for us to go to the Stratford Festival this evening to see the musical Oklahoma!! We are very excited and we'll be meeting my parents there to see the show!! Hopefully I'll have some photos to share tomorrow!! Have a wonderful day!!

Enchante, Daniel Boone!!!

I wanted to change things up today and share a 12x12 scrapbook layout with you. In between all my card creations, design team stuff, card class preparation, work and life in general....my scrapbooking has sort of taken a backseat lately. It takes me a lot longer to create a two page layout than it does a single card. So I like to devote a big block of time to my scrapbooking......when I can. Well, that hasn't been happening much lately but I want to try and rectify that!! So this layout, which I made during the National Scrapbooking Day Crop at The Cat's Kaboose, will hopefully motivate me. It is the first full layout, chronologically, for my Florida Trip scrapbook.

For the Danile Boone National Forest layout, I used the lovely Enchante designer paper that was in the Winter Mini Catalog. I used matching cardstock in Pale Plum, Close to Cocoa and Sage Shadow. I love this colour combo and it really goes well with the pictures. I used my ticket corner punch, some of my FAVE eyelets, some chocolate grosgrain ribbon, my Whimsical Alphabet stamps and that lovely Prima flower that my secret pal (Vivlyn on SCS) sent to me!!

The journaling reads: After a full night of driving (and sleeping), we decided to take a little detour. We drove through the back woods of Kentucky. It was fun going up the side of the mountain, winding through the trees and after several hairpin turns, we ended up here!! Feb. 24/07

Beach Babes.........and Kimmie's Kandy Winners!!!

Aren't we just a couple of the cutest 'Beach Babes' you've ever seen?? *giggle* Nothin' like tootin' yer own horn, huh?? Heehee! I would never say that if I wasn't sittin' beside my gorgeous daughter.........or if I was actually wearing a bathing suit!!! Baahahahahaaaa!

This is probably my favourite layout from National Scrapbooking Weekend. Like I mentioned before, I went to a wonderful all day crop at my local scrapbooking store and had a great day of fun and scrappin'!! Sometimes I have a hard time at those things just because I'm not in my own little craft room and I'm so used to knowing where everything is and being able to reach right out and grab it, rather than diggin' to the bottom of one of my mammoth totes and saying 'I know I brought it...it's in here somewhere!!!' That's totally frustrating and funny at the same time!!

Anyhoo, this page just really fell together just right and I was super pleased with it. I used these six pictures, which, believe it or not, Emileigh took all but one of them, including the ones she is in!! The colours in them are so yummy and matched the Blush Basic Grey papers so well, I just ran with it!! I used the solid blue/green sheets as the background pages and then took the coordinating floral page and used pieces all over the layout as embellishments. First I cut a quarter circle out of it and used that as a title background piece on the upper left hand side. Then I cut out some of the large flowers, small flowers and leafy designed pieces, dtp'd the edges of them and used them all over the layout. I also used a wide strip down the right hand side of the right page.

I did the title using a chipboard letter 'b' which I painted with brown paint and then roughed it up with sandpaper after it dried. I tied on some pink grosgrain ribbons and the rest of the title is done using my Cuttlebug Hippie Chick alphabet. Then I had some of this great white ric rac and some delicious Prima Flowers that just happend to match perfectly!! It is a very 'beachy' layout for a very 'beachy' day in Florida!!

AND, the randomly drawn winners for the sketch challenge are: Michelle, Paula and Donna!! Please email me your snail mail address and I will get your prizes out to ya!! That was a lot of fun and maybe we can do it again soon.....are ya game???

Gone Fishin'!!

Well, I'm workin' my little butt off this week!! I have a stamp camp with 12 ladies out of town on Friday night and I have had to work extra time at the library, unexpectedly, so I'm desigining and preparing and packing in my 'spare time'. Hahaha!

So here is a scrapbook layout that I created for Virtual Scrapbook Weekend. It is a two page 12x12 layout using Basic Grey Oh Baby Boy patterned papers which were perfect for these pictures of my nephew. At this age he had a ball hangin' out and watching the fishies in Nana's aquarium, so I created the underwater scene at the bottom of the pages using some awesome new stamps by Pink Cat Studio. I stamped the images on Whisper White cardstock using black Stazon ink and coloured them in using my SU markers that match the colours in the patterned paper. Then I made a scalloped edge for the top of the scene using my slit punch. I made the title using both my Big Deal Alphabet and my Whimsical Alphabet, using both sizes of tag punches and popping the second half of the title up on pop dots. The journaling reads: Matthew is fascinated by Nana's fish!! He sits on Nana's lap and watches them swim. There are Angel Fish, Silver Dollars and Clown Loaches. He points to them and talks to them. Matthew loves fishin'!



I also have some super-exciting news!!!!! I have recently found an awesome stamp company called Rubber Stamping Fun and a couple of weeks ago they put out a call for people with stamping blogs and galleries to apply to be a Reviewer for their company. Well, I jumped right on that, didn't I???? I guess a TON of people applied and they chose only 145 people all over Canada, the US, England, Australia and more.....and guess what????? They picked little ole me!!! So the plan is that they will be sending us each a set of their brand new, unreleased stamps just to play around with them and review them on our blogs!! How great is that?? They want honest feedback about what we like or don't like about their stamps! I'm really thrilled to be in on this process with them and I'm honestly impressed that a company would do this and realizes how important it is to hear opinions about their products. So I have already chosen my set....it's so adorable and I don't have anything like this set in my arsenal yet...so I can't wait to get it!!! If you haven't seen their website before, go and check them out! They have some fantastic images in both wood-mounted and clear acrylic stamps!! And be sure to let them know Kimmie sent ya!!

Just the 2 of Us!!!

For some reason I thought I had posted this page to my blog already but I can't seem to find it!! Hmph! Did I ever mention that my memory sucks?? Well, I wouldn't remember if I HAD mentioned it anyway!! Bahahahaaaaaa!! I think I just posted it in my SCS gallery but not on here......so here it is!! Ta daaaaaa!

Anyhaway.....I did this page combining two challenges!! The first challenge was a Virtual Scrapbooking Challenge to use buttons on your page and the other challenge was from my local scrapbooking store, The Cat's Kaboose!! They have a monthly challenge to create an sb page using the papers and embellishments that they give you. You must use a little bit of everything that they provide but you can add anything you want to it from your own stash.

So I took a 5x7 pic and made it black and white (that way it goes with ANY papers you choose to use.....plus I LOVE b&w pics) and used it as the focal point of my 12x12 page. It's a pic that Emileigh took of the two of us on St. Pete Beach in Florida! The patterned papers are by Lil Davis Designs and some of the cardstock was provided, so I'm not sure what it is. The SU cardstock I used was Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Real Red. I would never have combined those colours myself, but they look cool on the pp, so what do I know??

I made the left hand border using a strip of the cardstock for the base, stamping Polka Dots and Petals on in in CC and then adding all those lovely flowers which are Cuttlebug diecuts plus a BUNCH of my SU buttons!! I don't normally use that many buttons or spendy embellishments on my page (it's actually painful for me to use that much 'stuff'....I'm so thrifty!!!) but i really wanted this page to be special!

The title is a combination of chipboard and Cuttlebugged letters and numbers. The photo panel has some yummy velvet ric rac that was included with the kit as well as those delish-us (don'tcha love that spelling....I made it up...keeheehee) Prima hydrangeas. Then I just added the red corners to finish it off!!

I didn't win for the VSBN challenge but my page is currently hanging in teh local scrapbook store with 7 others being voted on!! Eek!! SO if you happen to live in St. Thomas and you stop by The Cat's Kaboose, PLEASE vote for #8!! It's mine!! Heehee! I could win a gift certificate to the store........and I LOVE that store!!!

You're a Treasure!!!

This is the first card I've made using the cute little Cat's Pajamas pirate stamps that Vivian (Vivlyn on SCS) sent to me last week!! It was a quick one but I love it just the same as if I'd spent an hour on it!

I stamped 'Simon Sees' with basic black SU ink on shimmery paper and coloured him in using my SU markers and I used my Stardust gel pen to shine up the telescope and the bones on his hat. I punched the image out with my Marvy Mega Circle Punch and then doodled around the edge of the circle using my Chocolate Chip marker (the journaling end). I punched a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock using the Giga Scalloped Circle Punch and then did the dots with the same gel pen. I used CC for the base and then the patterned paper is supposed to look like old-time parchment from the Once Upon a Time line by DCWV. I used the ticket corner punch on the corners and stamped the sentiment 'You're a Treasure' and the skull and crossbones in chocolate chip too. I wrapped some dark brown suede stuff around it and pop dotted the whole piece on the base. I dotted the corners with the gel pen...again (I love that thing)!! I think it's a cutie card!!

AND yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day and as you might have read, I went to an all day crop....and I do mean ALL DAY!! I spent 9-5pm at the local sb store doing challenges and eating and I won some door prizes and met some new people ...... and oh yeah, I did some scrappin' too!! I was also glad to find out that I didn't bring the most stuff....not even close!! I got three 2-page layouts done there and when it was over, I went home for supper. Well, my honey had worked all night, gotten home late in the morning, stayed up to cut the grass, weedwhack, clean up the yard etc. and so he was still sleeping when I got home. And Emileigh had slept over at her girlfriend's house and the family had taken them out of town to a nice park where they did some fishing and stuff...and SHE wasn't home yet either.

Anyway, after I ate (all alone) I went over to my friend Donna's house for a croppin' party!! There were originally supposed to be 6 of us but a couple of the long distance people had to cancel. That was okay though because the four of us had a great time chatting and sharing ideas and tips! We gabbed and ate some yummy snacks and stuff! It was so nice and I really enjoyed myself! Oh and I did get ONE layout done..hehe! It was so wonderful to spend a whole day scrappin'! I haven't done too much other than cards over the last few months, so this was really nice.



Here is one of the layouts I finished. All the pictures I worked this with weekend were from our trip to Florida in February. This one features some pics from the Tennessee Aquarium where we stopped on the way to Florida. We spent the night there in Chattanooga and had a super fun evening at the aquarium (well, I did....Al and Emmy, not so much) seeing all the cool underwater creatures!

The patterned papers I used were by Polar Bear Press and the cardstock is Handsome Hunter and Certainly Celery. I used Alphabet Fun Upper and my Karen Foster Snap Stamps to do the title and stamped a little froggy from Very Punny on the corner. Then I added some buttons and linen thread and some grosgrain ribbon. I kept our tickets from the aquarium, so that's them on the left and I used a rubon on the bottom of the right page. The journaling reads: We arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee around 4pm on Saturday, February 24th, 2007. Our original plan was to go to Ruby Falls and Rock City but it was closed, so we decided to go downtown! It was a really pretty area with cute little storefronts and we found the Tennessee Aquarium! Since we wouldn't be going to Sea World in Florida, Al and Emileigh agreed to go!

I will have some more pages to share later on! Hope your week starts out great!!

Oh and remember the scrappin' challenge that I set out for anyone who wanted to give it a try??? Well the winner is Erika (splrunning on SCS)!! So email me your mailing address Erika and I will pop your Kandy in the mail!!!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!!!

I'm so excited, I'm so excited!!! Today is National Scrapbooking Day and I'm doing something I haven't done in a long time!!! No, not dust the furniture....bwahahahaa!! I am going to an All Day Crop at the new local scrapbooking store called The Cat's Kaboose!!

The reason I haven't done it in so long is because ..... well, I just have too much stuff!! It's easier to just hang out in my craft room where all my 'stuff' is at arm's length and I can be as creative as I want, because it's all there!! Do you know what I mean?? But this day sounded like so much fun, I thought to myself, 'Self ..... you can do it!! You just need to pack efficiently!' So that's what I've tried to do!!

I've gotta tell ya, it has probably taken me longer to pack for this crop, than the amount of time I will spend actually cropping today!! What a chore!! I had to pack most of my alphabet stamps, all my Stampin' Spots, a container FULL of embellishments (brads, buttons, eyelets etc.), rubons, scissors, adhesive...blah, blah, blah!! The list just goes on! And then just when I figured I was doing okay, I realized I hadn't even packed my pictures OR ANY PAPER!! Yipes!!!

Well, I am about ready to go to this super fun day, but I will post a picture of my bags later!! Just to give you a hint, there are four!!! Aahahahaa!! And last night when I was carrying them downstairs ready to go, I turned around and looked in my craft room, and you couldn't even tell that anything was missing!!! Think I have too much stuff??? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

So here is the title page for the album I will be working on today!! I have decided to focus on our Florida vacation today and this is the cover page.....Our Florida Vacation '07!! Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Fun with Friends!!

Obviously I've been in a 'scrappy' mood this weekend, what with Virtual Scrapbook Night and all!! So here's another one of my submissions for a challenge!! This one was to use chipboard on your layout, so I took some Basic Grey Lucky paper and these photos of Emileigh a few years ago with a couple of her friends! Aren't they so cute....and goofy!!

The layout is a Kimmie original (I just played around with the photos I had) and I used several of the coordinating BG papers. The 'Fun' and 'Friends' parts of the title are done with chipboard and the 'with' is done with the Cuttlebug and attached with my trusty Xyron. The ribbon is the stitched grosgrain by Stampin' Up and the charm on the upper left says 'Friends Forever' and the ribbon slider on the right says 'laughter'. The chipboard tag has a rubon that says 'laugh often' and wouldn't you know, I just HAPPENED to get these perfectly matching Prima flowers on Saturday!! What are the odds??

And hey....some good news for all you busy scrappers!! The deadline for submissions to the VSBN challenges has been extended until Wednesday night!! So get scrappin' and don't forget to do my challenge and post your link on this posting....you could be a lucky Kimmie's Kandy winner!!!!

A Scrappin' Challenge!!!!!!

Do ya scrap?? Well if so, this weekend is Virtual Scrapbooking Weekend on Splitcoaststampers!! And I am one of the hostesses for the challenges!! This is my sample page for my 'Focus on Yourself' challenge and I'm extremely pleased with the way that it turned out!!

Here is the description of my challenge:

As women we are constantly thinking of everyone and everything else.....our children, our husbands, our families, our jobs, our homes!! Sheesh! I'm getting pooped just thinkin' about it!! The whole idea of a 'Spa Getaway' is that you take some much needed time for yourself and focus on just YOU, for the day or the weekend! Get a relaxing full-body massage, a seaweed wrap, get a spunky new hairdo, a cleansing facial, get a beautiful manicure.........because, let's face it.....you deserve it!!! And you need to stop and take good care of yourself, so that you are able to then, turn around and take good care of others!

So I want you to Focus on YOU for this challenge!! What I want you to do is to take one single picture and make that the entire focus of your layout. This must be a one page layout, it must include ONLY one photo, be it a 4x6 or a 5x7 or an 8x10!! There will be bonus points for larger pictures, bonus points for flourishes (stamps, rubons etc.) and bonus points for using a photo of YOU!!

Don't forget to use the provided sketch!!

So my challenge to YOU, scrappers...is to do this challenge!! In order to be in the running for the winners on Splitcoast you need to complete your page in under two hours and upload to the SCS gallery by Monday evening. But if you want to spend more time on your layout or you just want to be included in MY challenge, then you can comment in this thread with a link to your layout by Friday, May 4th at noon EST!! You can also email me the photo of your creation if you prefer. The winner of this challenge will receive some Kimmie's Kandy!!!! Not sure what it will be yet, but I'm sure you will love it!!!

So check the thread for inspiration and scrap those pics!! I don't care if your hair was a mess or you didn't have any makeup on or if you looked dorky in those clothes!! *giggle* And you don't HAVE to scrap a pic of yourself, it can be any picture, just get scrappin'!!! I can't wait to see what you create!!

Friends Challenge!!

No, I'm not talkin' about the awesome TV show, Friends......although I could totally go toe to toe with you on any Friends trivia challenge too!! I'm referring to a challenge that I completed yesterday for the Virtual Scrapbooking Preview Party!!

For challenge C, you had to complete a layout which incorporates Friends or friendship and uses the provided sketch. Also there had to be blue on your layout and the square cutout piece which you will notice on the upper left corner of my left page!!

This layout is using pictures from Emileigh's Track and Field day of 2004! It's always a super fun day for her and all her little friends. I usually take the day or half day off from work and Mom and I go and spend the day taking pictures and filming with the video camera!! The sketch was for a one page layout and I used it on the left page, but of course I had many pics and needed a two pager so I made the right page without a sketch. I got to use my new Doodle Alphabet for the title and some awesome paper (that I don't know the name of....sorry). I added some orange ric rac and stamped the sentiment on the bottom of the right page which says: "A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same". I sponged the edges of almost all the papers and pieces to make them stand out and cut out a few flowers from one of the patterned papers.



It was nice to get some pages done as I've been spending more time on cards lately. I hope to get more done this weekend during Virtual Scrapbooking Night!! Feel free to join in the fun and you can get more details here!!!

Love Layout!!

Happy Monday morning everyone!! Does it seem like the weekend was just waaaay too short, or is it just me?? That always happens to me when I have to work the weekend. And it's rainy, crummy weather here today, so that doesn't help!!

Anyway, this is a layout I finished and submitted for the monthly contest at the new local sb store for April. They gave us the sheet of dark purple cardstock, 2 sheets of Serendipity patterned papers, the heart shaped chipboard, the white rick rack and the metal embellies! This is the layout I came up with and I'm very happy with it. I trimmed down the pp and did the edges with the direct-to-paper technique using Taken With Teal craft ink to give it some more depth. I used some Lavender Lace cardstock to mat the 5x7 picture (aren't we cute?) and played around a bit with the chipboard. I dtp'd the chipboard piece with TWTeal craft ink and put a piece of the LLace behind it to make it pop. Then I added a Heid Swapp ghost heart shape on it and used some Lavender Stickles around the edge. I then used some Pressed Petals Chip Chatter for the letters, which have a great texture to them, so I sponged them with Lavender Lace. I added the rick rack and also the provided metal embellishments on the top right-hand corner. I also used some awesome Prima flowers with a large silver brad in the middle and dressed it up with some more Stickles! My favourite part though is the song lyric I used at the bottom which I think goes so well with the mood of the second picture. These pics were actually taken by our daughter when we were on vacation last month. We were at St. Pete Beach in Florida and it was such a wonderful sunset and we had also just seen a school of dolphins jumping and playing in the surf near us. Anyway, the lyrics I used say: The way we fit together, it's like we're meant to be; and right here and right now, this is paradise to me. It is from a song by Bryan Adams called Where Angels Fear to Tread. Bryan is one of my fave songwriters and singers....okay probably my favourite!! Are you listening Bryan???? I luuuuuuuuv you!! *snort*

P.S. If you live in the St. Thomas area and happen to stop in at The Cat's Kaboose, feel free to vote for my layout if you like it the best!!! I could win a gift certificate for the store........thanks!!!

Online Tutorial!!!

Last night I did my first online class with a group of ladies in the Scrapbooking forum at Splitcoaststampers! You may remember the Clock that I made last week at a local scrapbooking store....well, my pals at SCS loved it so much that they asked me to teach them how to make one too!!

So I posted the items that they would need to create their own clock and we all met on this thread last night. I posted directions along with pictures of each step and we had a great time working together!!

If you would like to make one too, just check out the thread!! When you make one and upload it to the SCS gallery, feel free to put a link to it here in the comments portion of this post!! I would LOVE to see everyone's creations!!

This is the one I made last night during the tutorial and I will be giving it to my sister-in-law for Mother's Day!!

Happy New Year!???

"Happy New Year Kim??"...you say. "Um...you're a few months behind, girlfriend!" Yeah, yeah, I know. We're well into 2007...in fact, it's a quarter over....ack!! Well since I have shared quite a few cards with you this week, I wanted to change it up and post one of my fave scrapbook pages! That's just how I roll!! *snort*

This is a page I did at the beginning of the year for the SBTS2007 challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I hadn't done any personal scrapping for a couple of months leading up to the holidays, because you KNOW how busy that time of year is! And this challenge totally got me revved up!! We were given the sketch, which I LOVE, and had to do something that had to do with the New Year or NY traditions...something like that.

I used my Basic Grey Blush patterned papers (do I use anything else?? I think they should pay me royalties everytime I mention them...don't you?) and Rose Red and Pretty in Pink cardstock. I used this great pic of the three of us that a friend took on Christmas Eve and blew it up to a 5x7. Ain't we cute?? The pic doesn't show it well, but the pink pocket is dry embossed with a Fiskars template ('cause I didn't have a Cuttlebug....YET!!) and then dirtied up a bit with sponging. I added some BG tags, some American Crafts ribbon and .....Bob's your uncle!!