A little love baby !

Ok there is no way I can possibly sleep this much. My eyes still want to, but my body is so achy I just can't lay down and get comfortable. These old weary bones can't handle sleeping for 12 hours like they did as a teenager. Anyway Valentine's Day is just around the corner so here is something I put together at the beginning of the week.

I just purchased the Bigz Top Note from SU and couldn't wait to use it. A friend of mine was such a sweetheart and borrowed me her scalloped heart Nestabilities from Spellbinders. Thanks Betsy for being so generous. I used my cuttlebug embossing folders on the card background and the Bigz Top Note. The "Love" center square was also done with the cuttlebug small embossing squares. The embellishments are red brads, Making Memories glitter foam- white butterflies (I added the three red rhinestones) and satin ribbon. The card stock is from SU ( the only kind I use is from SU or Papertrey Ink) real red, white and cool caribbean. Printed paper is "daisyd's" Candy Apple Dot. I used chalk and red marker to color up the love. I was surprised how much my one Copic marker bled when I added color to the number 14. This was not watercolor paper. My SU real red marker did fine for the dots. I guess this is what makes it look homemade and that's what counts.

Edit: This card was submitted for a challenge with Sharon Johnson at No time to stamp? The submissions can be seen on Splitcoaststampers.com.

Enjoy and have a great day!

~Kim

Under the weather....

Looks like I caught the flu bug and boy did it get me good. I won't go into the details but it sure kicked my butt for two days. I could barely find enough energy to post just these few words but I hope to be able to post something tomorrow that I made in the beginning of the week.

~Kim

Not what it seems....

Just a quick post today before I head out the door to work. Here is another example of using something that might be considered trash. The three white scalloped ovals aren't what they seem.

For my trading cards I needed black scalloped ovals, so I went to work with my Spellbinders Nestabilities and started to roll them out on my Sizzix. It wasn't until I was cleaning up and getting ready to toss the scraps into the trash that I realized (with out trying) the three cutouts were pretty much equally spaced on the black piece of scrap paper. You guessed it- being the saver that I am, I decided to put a white piece of paper behind the cutouts and then stamped in the center of each. Voila, I had the start of another card.

You have to be careful what you save, because believe me it can get out of hand. I keep a basket next to my workspace with larger scraps but I only keep a few white and cream ones that are 2" or smaller for tags and labels. You heard it- the rest get pitched.

Enjoy and have a great day!

~Kim

Ice cream

Why do I have this post entitled ice cream? I just love this color combination of pink and brown but every time I use it I think of Neapolitan ice cream and I'm not that crazy about ice cream. I can take it or leave it. My husband and son are a different story. They would knock me over to get to a bowl. Nothing stands between them and a heaping bowl of the stuff.

I find it amazing the width of ribbon that we are using these days on our creations. Two years ago I wouldn't have used anything wider than 1/2 inch. I love to watch the trends as they come and go. Some of my earlier creations I look at them and wonder "what was I thinking". Oh well it is all a learning experience. I do that with stamps also. My tastes have certainly changed since I started stamping over 5 years ago. I have got to go through my stamps and weed out the ones that haven't seen the light of day. As I mentioned before I am known to my family as a pack-rat, so you can only imagine how hard that will be for me. The new SU catalog came out on the 18th and there are several new sets that I would like and my stamp room is only so big. I believe the day is coming very soon when I will have to get rid of some of those precious gems. I think I am going to set that as my March project. When you feel the earth moving somewhere around Michigan, you will know that is the day I tackled this project.

I am looking into purchasing a soft sided light box so that I can take better and more consistent pictures of my artwork. I'm just not sure about the type of lights to buy. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate any pointers on that. During the winter months in Michigan we only have a few hours of daylight after work so my time gets limited.

Have a great day and enjoy!

~Kim

Yummy

A little bit of eye candy today. I altered this container for Valentine"s Day. I plan on filling it with yummy chocolate kisses. I may just have to buy another bag or two because they keep disappearing. I wonder where they went.

The printed paper I wrapped around the can is by Karen Neuburger. I used my large scallop oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders and stamped it in SU pixie pink using a stamp set from Heidi Grace called Urban Acres Blvd. The design around the bottom and on the lid are rub-ons from Paper Studio that I got at HL in the valentine section. The buckle is from Spare Parts also from HL- 50% off (just love a bargain) and the ribbon is pink velvet. The trim around the top is from Jo Ann's and adds an antique feeling to the project. I added a few rhinestones around the bottom and a few on the scallops. I punched a hole on every other scallop to dress up the top lid.

You can dress up just about any container. Just use what you have. I always get a few from work after Christmas that cookies or chocolates have come in. The issue gets to be where to store them until they get altered.

Enjoy!

~Kim

Beautiful hands ....

Five years ago today the most wonderful person left my life. My mother passed away from colon cancer. After 8 weeks in the hospital from a ruptured colon due to an unknown cancer, we were told to take her home. They gave her only 2 weeks so I took a leave of absence from work and went home to take care of her. The day she came home was my parent's 45th wedding anniversary. She only lived one more week and she passed on a beautiful Sunday morning much like today; cold and full of sunshine.

I sat up the whole night with her; giving her morphine every 2 hours as instructed by the nurse who brought it and then left after giving me the instruction to call her when she passed. To this day I don't think I will ever have a tougher yet more honorable job. My mother was there with me as she brought me into this world and I was there to help her leave. The picture above is one I had taken just the day before she passed. I just wanted something to hang onto. After my daughter had seen this photo she had the following poem framed for me by Emma M.K. Gates. It is rather long but so fitting.

Beautiful Hands

Such beautiful, beautiful hands,

they're neither white nor small.

And you, I know, would scarcely think

that they were fair at all.

I've looked on hands whose form and hue

a sculptor's dream might be,

Yet are these aged, wrinkled hands

most beautiful to me.

Such beautiful, beautiful hands!

though heart were weary and sad

these patient hands kept toiling on

that the children might be glad.

I almost weep when looking back

to childhood's distant day.

I think how these hands rested not

when mine were at their play.

Such beautiful, beautiful hands!

They're growing feeble now,

and time and pain have left their mark

on hand, and heart and brow.

Alas! Alas! the nearing time-

and the sad, sad day to me,

when 'neath the daisies, out of sight,

these hands must folded be.

But, oh! beyond the shadowy lands

where all is bright and fair,

I know full well these dear old hands

will palms of victor bear:

when crystal streams, through endless years

flow over golden sands,

and where the old are young again

I'll clasp my mother's hands.

I miss having her here to share the good and the bad times with. I just plain and simply miss her.

~Kim

Give your imagination wings

I love wings and crowns. Can't seem to get enough of them whether they are rub-ons, stamps or embellishments. That's where the addiction emanates from. For this little project I just used wings. The sentiment says- Give your imagination wings. This little book was created from small paper bags. Remember those darling little bags they would put penny candy in. For those of you that are much younger, believe it or not we could actually get candy for a penny. Some items were 2 for penny. Anyway- Just keep the bags laying flat with the bottom folded up like they come when you purchase them. I decorated each page and then bound them together with 2 rulers cut to size . Drill holes through the rulers and bags and then secure with a small screw (which I cut down with my dremel) and nut. I dabbed some brown iron oxide paint on the ruler and over the screw head to make it look older. The top bag I gave a lite coat with gold paint, used some wings I embossed and cut out for the cover. I used a watch face and put the letter "i" in the bottom right corner for "imagination". I wasn't able to hold the book open and take pictures at the same time, so I will have to get some assistance and show you the inside pages later. You can just see one of the inside embellishments peeking out at the top. That is another little bag that I decorated and used to hold a homemade tag.

I hope you are enjoying a peek into my world of art. I will from time to time post other things that I love, just to share and spice it up a bit. You may see the format change a bit as I progress along this journey and learn just what it is I want on a blog.

Have fun and enjoy

~Kim

Not a receipt anymore!

Here is a card that I created using an item that would have certainly gone to the trash. The sales receipt is from a wholesale distributor of butter, cheese and Kraft products out of Rochester, Michigan. The gal that gave these to me thought they were from the late 1960's. They were carbon copies because the back is black. You can see just how brittle they are from the upper right corner. See how it just chipped off.

I ran a piece of SU Pretty in Pink paper through my cuttlebug (just love that thing) using the Textile Lace embossing folder. Gave a light rub over the embossing using Ranger Distress Ink to give it a vintage feeling and bring out the detail. Next I stamped the design on the receipt using SU Chocolate Chip craft ink with a stamp from the set "From the Garden" by Fancy Pants Designs. The greeting is Hero Arts stamped on a pink scallop layered on top of a chocolate chip scallop using my Nestabilites from Spellbinders (another must have). I added pink and chocolate satin ribbon as my embellishment.

So there you have it, another trash to treasure. Remember you don't have to use just plain cardstock or printed paper to stamp on. Even though there are lines and words on the receipt, the stamped image still stands out. Go for the one large stamp because I think several small ones would have been too busy. If anyone has any information about this distributing company I would love to learn the history behind the receipt.

~Kim

Trash to Treasure

Can you guess what this is? I like to consider myself earth friendly when it come to altered art. By this I mean that I don't throw anything away. At least this is what I say to justify being a pack-rat. The glass container is the lid to a large jar candle. I can't tell you how many of these I have stashed away over the years knowing that one day I would use them for something. I glued the medallion in the very back and the dream bubble closer to the front. The single pearl is glued to the top and a string of pearls around the outside. Add a cameo, a winged little girl and a bow and there you have it. I stuck a dimensional to the bottom to help it stand upright. Trash to treasure. This little gem sits on a table in my foyer and yes it gets a lot of compliments. I get such satisfaction when I can turn nothing into something and it doesn't break the bank. Everything I had on hand of course because us crafters never throw anything away. My stamping room is true testament to that. The walk in closet in my studio is almost not a walk in closet anymore because it is so full you can barely walk in it. As one of my 2009 goals I told myself that I would go through my supplies and anything I haven't used I was going to give away. But how do I that when all that stuff can one day create something like this. I gotta tell you I am the master when it comes to justification; could you tell.

I know altered art can be very intimidating for some, but this little project was nothing more than gluing things in place. The hardest part is the idea but there are plenty of magazines out there with pictures that help you.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this inspires you to try your hand at altered art.

~Kim

Friend

Where would we be without friends. They are the ones who are always there even when we are at our worst. They celebrate the good times with us and they have the courage to let us know when we are behaving less than what we should be. One of my favorite poems is this one.

************

A friend is someone

who knows the song in your heart

and sings it to you

when you forget the words.

*************

I have two special stamping friends (Ms. C & Ms. B) that I enjoy creating with. We don't get together as often as we would like because of work but I shouldn't complain because it is that "work" that pays for my ribbon, ink and paper addiction. We have a great time on the days we get together. We usually make a day of it at Ms. C's house because she has created a stamping area for each of us and it is always there and waiting just as we have left it. We each contribute a part of the lunch and most often it is Mr. C who prepares it for us. What a guy he is. Some days we work on a specific project and other times we each work on our own thing. Of course there is a lot more than just stamping going on and you couldn't find any better therapy for the price. I have to tell you that I am always amazed at how much stuff Ms. B can shove into a small altered suitcase that she carries her supplies in. That girl can pack.

We listen and offer advice to each other and sometimes we just have to say "stop your whining".This time of year one of us lucky ones travels to Florida for the winter, so our stamping trio gets put on hold for a good part of the winter. I just wanted to say thank you to these two special friends for being a part of my life. Hurry back Ms. C; we miss you!

The card that I posted was made with Stampin' Up card stock -True Thyme and River Rock. The pattern paper is Daisyd's and I ran it through my cuttlebug using the argyle embossing folder. The picture doesn't show the embossing as nicely. I'll have to watch that when taking the photos. I used my scalloped nestabilites to cut out the True Thyme scallop and cream oval. I used gold half bead embelishment and some tan satin ribbon that I got out of the dollar bin at M's. Right now I can't find the "Friend" stamp to let you know who makes it but I used True Thyme Stampin' Up ink. As soon as I find it I will post the info. I have to say this is one of my more simple creations. I usually like some type of bow, but thought simplicity is more of what I am looking for in a friend and I wanted the card to symbolize that.

~Kim

Just the begining

This is a work in progress and I still have a lot of customization to do. I figured I had to start somewhere so here goes. This will be a blog where I can share my love for rubber stamping and altered art. I am also a Stampin' Up demonstrator so I will have related posts to that as well. I hope to share my artwork to inspire others and receive some valuable critiques. I'm not sure that I can make this blog much different than what is already out there but I hope it will be a place where you will enjoy visiting and sharing.
I will spend the next few days gathering my thoughts and hopefully creating what I have envisioned. I have posted a recent picture of our latest snowfall and I will have some stamping projects posted soon.
Wish me luck and say a few prayers.

~Kim