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