The beginning...

So how do you like my new blog design? I am absolutely loooving it. I worked with Michelle from Laycock Designs and she designed it for me. She also created a couple of watermarks for my pictures and my siggy at the bottom. I kept waiting for my son Elliot to design something for me and I know he is more than capable with his art background and his Mac computer (he is a whiz on that thing) but... when the grades come in from college I didn't want to hear that he had to spend time creating my blog rather than studying. I also thought that I would be waiting so long that I would have had to change my debut card to "The End" rather than "The Beginning". He really is a great kid but mom's priorities are not on the top of his list and that is very understandable for a 20 year old away at college.

I created this card a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was a perfect choice for today's post with my new design. I can't even begin tell you the excitement this has created for me.


As you can see I am still into the MS punches. The corners on the designer paper (Paper Studio) are Eyelet Lace and the hearts are Lace Scalloped Heart. The card stock is from SU- Red and Baja Breeze and I used a Marvy punch on the Baja Breeze corners. The sentiment was punched out with the Modern Label punch from SU. The flowers are from Prima.

Not much else to post today. This past week has me looking forward to Florida even more since the temperatures haven't gotten out of the 20's this week and it is snowing as I speak. Don't forget to head on over to The Stamp Castle for your Justrite Valentine sentiments. They are a perfect fit with several of the Spellbinders Nestabillities and you can still get them on sale.

Have fun and enjoy!

Testing the siggy

Change is coming...

Change is coming. Soon you will see a complete makeover of my blog. I have been anticipating this for quite some time and I just have to wait a few more days. In the meantime here is another Valentine's Day card.

I used red foil paper for the frame which is from Spellbinders and it didn't photograph very well. You can see the top looks much darker than the bottom. The black doily is one of my new favorite MS punches- Doily Lace Trim. I used the new JustRite Loving Thoughts sentiment with the 2" Decorative Square set. Both of these sets can be purchased at The Stamp Castle. The decorative square was cut out using Spellbinders Labels One. Of course the scallop circles from Spellbinders is a must have for the sentiments. The small black designs on each side of the frame are the leftover pieces from the Lattice Borderabilities Petite from Spellbinders. See that is why you don't throw anything away.

I have to get started on next month's project for our stamp club. I am going to show how to make a matchbook with a sweet surprise inside. I was thinking it would be a great treat for Valentine's Day and then I remembered our club night is the third Thursday of the month and Valentine's Day will be done and gone. I had already made one and decorated it with hearts so now I need to make some samples for Easter. I will post instructions and samples in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I hope you will share with me the anticipation of my new design.

Have fun and enjoy!

~Kim

A bit of Inspiration

Yes, Valentine's Day is just around the corner so today's card is something to get your motor racing (not that your sweetie doesn't already do that). I guess I should say your creative motor! I am having a hard time staying away from the Martha Stewart punches. This past week the hubby and I had to run down to the big city so on the way we stopped at M's and we each had two coupons so you guessed it. I had him in line with two new punches and I was right behind him with two more. He sure is a trooper when it comes to helping me out with coupons. If that wasn't bad enough we stopped at a different M's on the way home and did the same thing. I love how they will take competitors coupons. I take advantage of a trip like that because the closest one is 35 miles away and the punches are about the only thing I find myself wanting to buy. We have a few stamping places here in town that keeps me supplied with what I need except MS punches.

I was so excited when I got the new Justright stamps from The Stamp Castle. Today's card is using one from the Romantic Sentiments set. The are perfect by themselves or can be used as the center of the 2" decorative frame. Another great set is the Loving thoughts set. I just love how you can use their new stamps with old ones. It's like getting a new top to dress up an old outfit. I also used the 2" decorative square frame on this card. I embossed it in silver and then used the Labels Two nestabilities to cut it out. I layered that on top of a 3.25 inch square that I used the MS Deco Shell border and corner punch on. The pink layered border was done with the MS Daisy border punch and layered on top of a Deco Shell punched border. The color of card stock that I used was Stampin' Up Certainly Celery and the base of the card is Rose Red. For the pink square and border I must have grabbed a piece of pink from Archivers with my "free" coupon because when I went to my card stock supply that I keep stacked individual in it's plastic for identification, I couldn't match up the color with anything. The DS is just a scrap from Paper Studio and the bling is from Recollections. The pink hearts in the foreground were punched from one of MS new heart punches.

Don't forget to head on over to The Stamp Castle for your Justrite stamps and you will find a sale going on right now. You will be very happy with their service. In my next post I will show a card using the Loving Thoughts set.

Have fun and enjoy!

~Kim

Loving them....

Wow I can't believe we are already half way through January. This is now a great time of year to spend in the craft room. The holidays are over and the snow keeps us indoors, well at least for us northerners. The new spellbinders will be on the shelves soon but I have mixed feelings about them. I was wondering with all the designs they already have, how could they come out with so many more. I wasn't crazy about the fruit or beach dies and I don't see myself buying the baby ones either. I don't scrapbook so maybe that is why they didn't appeal to me. I did like the labels and borders and the labels eleven was my favorite on the top of my list. Before you no it the new Martha Stewart punches will be out also if they aren't already. Tim Hioltz has several new Distressed Inks and die cuts coming out. It will be like Christmas all over again.

I didn't think I was going to like the corner and edge punch combinations because as I said, I don't scrapbook. Being that you can only punch certain sizes I didn't see myself using them for anything but a 3.25 x 3.25 square and the cost didn't justify that. I had bought the edge punches and a member of our stamp club said I was going to be sorry for not getting the corners. Boy was I wrong. With several different trips and coupons I found myself hooked. Today's card uses the deco fan and this one can only be purchased as a set at this time. I like this one the best even if I use them separately.

The card today uses the MS deco fan punch for the square and border. The DS paper is from DCWV-Blossoms Butterflies and the card stock is from SU- So Saffron, Baja Breeze , Soft Sky and White. The Baja Breeze and Soft Sky are retired. The scallop circles were punched out as was the "enjoy" with SU curly label punch. The stamp set is Cute & Curly from last years SU catalog. I apologize for not using current colors or stamps but this design is pretty simple that color combo or sentiment could be used. I don't have my retired supplies separated because this isn't a demonstrator website. The pearls are the Autumn Recollections line that is a Michaels product.

So go to your crafting area and get stamping. Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I will have some cards posted with the new Justrite stamps this week.

Have fun and Enjoy!

~Kim

The Best of Friends

I have to tell you it is sometimes uncanny how things work out in life. As I have told you, I had arthroscopic surgery on my knee last month and I have a little story to share with you about that. Well my knee had been bothering me ever since the middle of November and I had attributed it to arthritis because I couldn't think of any other reason for it to be hurting me for such a long time. It just so happens that my friend's knee had been bothering her for at least a year and after injection treatments were no longer working, she broke down and decided to have a total knee replacement exactly one week before I had my surgery. We were quite a pair the two of us, since it was the left knee for both of us. When I would be over visiting, we would both be sitting with our leg up. I had told her that I thought I was having sympathy pains for her and I was willing to do what ever it took to make her feel better. I guess the MRI said other wise but I am still sticking to the sympathy pain. Now that is what I call friendship . We are the best of friends and I enjoy and treasure her friendship immensely. She hobbled her way to the airport and headed back down to Florida but I will be seeing her down there in a few months. I am excited to be headed to warmer weather and away from the snow. Hope your feeling better soon Carol.

This is the card that I made for her as she was on the mend. I used the Decorative 2" Round Wide Borders and along with the 2" square borders they are my absolute favorites. You can find them at The Stamp Castle and there is a 20% off sale right now so don't miss it. Just to show you the versatility of these stamps I used a separate sentiment once I had stamped the border. It was from a Hero Arts "Take Good Care Greetings" stamp set. The designer paper is from The Paper Studio- Spring Floral Tapestry. It has a bit of shimmer to it and is double sided. The back side is pearly white. I used Su- White, Elegant Eggplant card stock and ink and my scallop circle Spellbinder Nestabilities. The eggplant ribbon was a find at Michaels. Three little peals add the finishing touch.

As a side note The Stamp Castle will be getting the new released stamps for Valentines Day in later this week. I will be posting some things I made with the new sets Loving Thoughts and Romantic Sentiments so check back next week for some new creations. Until then...

Have fun and enjoy!

~Kim