Spirelli Card

This is a card I made for our "shoebox swap" at Shackapalooza. I am also sending one to my SS at the Shack in her reveal package. I used a tutorial I found at Stubby Stampers here is the tutorial. I used a scallop circle punch instead of a spirelli punch.

For the "shoebox swap" at Shackapalooza this weekend eveyone that wants to participate had to come up with a project and bring enough supplies so that everyone can make one. I made mine into card kits. So all they have to do is make the "spirelli" and glue it all together. Hope everyone likes it

For this card I used the following :

- stamps - Happy Harmony by Stampin' Up!

- cardstock by Bazzill

- pattern paper by K & Co.

- thread by Sulky

- Marvy Uchida giga scallop punch

- Coluzzle circle templete

- ink - olive pastel and pink pastel chalk ink by ColorBox

I can't wait for our road trip to Shackapalooza! Like Nancy said "we are going to shop our way there". I have our route all mapped out with stores to stop at. I am also looking forward to meeting my Shackie friends. We are having games and I have my gift ready and wrapped for the Chinese Gift Exchange (this is my first one). Hope whoever gets it likes it.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my attempt at a Spirelli card :) If you have made anything with a spirelli I would love to see it. Post a link to it in the comments. Have you tried any new techniques lately? What are some of your favorite techniques or a technique you would love to try?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Inky Hugs!

~Kimmy

Shackapalooza's almost here!

It's a gloomy Monday morning here in Michigan. How's the weather in your "neck of the woods"? Well, I have been waiting for this weekend to come for months, Friday starts Shackapalooza! I am so excited to meet some of my fellow Shackies and spend a weekend creating with them. Jen and I are going to pick up Nancy from the airport Friday and start our shopping journey to Indiana. I am going to try not to spend too much money :)

I am excited, but I always get a little shy when it comes to meeting new people. We have had a few Shackie meet ups in the area and it was like we had known each other for years, so I am sure Palooza will be the same way. Plus I have already met several of the people going. Have you met any of your "online" friends? How did it go? Were you nervous?

Since we are going to be busy this week preparing and packing, Jen challenged me to use the other stamp from our previous challenge. It's Rome Diva by Hampton Arts. If you have made something with this stamp I would LOVE to see it! Make sure you check in Friday to see what we have come up with. Hopefully I will find some time while away to update the blog - of course that is if I can tear myself away from the crop room!

Wishing you sunny skies and flip-flop weather!
Hugs,
Kimmy

FUN-FILLED FRIDAY

Well it’s the first official FUN-FILLED FRIDAY! I was lucky enough to give the first challenge. I decided we had to use a stamp I got from JoAnn’s clearance section for $1. Don’t forget to check out Jen’s card here.

The stamp is by Hampton Arts (New York Diva). I stamped the image on white cardstock twice. I colored one of the backgrounds in chalks. Then I colored just the girl with prismacolor markers on the other. I added some stickles to her gown to dress it up a bit. Then I cut her out and used 3-D foam squares to make her pop out. Then I glued the whole thing to card base (Bazzill cardstock). I used my Martha Stewart alphabet set to stamp “you are fabulous”, and chalked the paper to match the background. Then I used the 3-D foam squares to glue that to the card. I don’t know if I am happy with the way it turned out. I must admit I procrastinated a bit so maybe that had something to do with it. Here is a close up of the girl.

Jen gets to pick the next challenge so be sure to check in Friday to see what we come up with. Next weekend is also Shackapalooza so check in for some details on how it went. I guess we have 13 shackies that are making the trip. Should be a blast!

In the theme of Fun-Filled Fridays I am going to challenge all you crafty bloggers to ink up a stamp you haven’t used (or one you haven’t touched in a long time) and see what you can create! If you do please leave me a comment so I can go check it out on your blog. If you made something using the stamp from this challenge I would love to see it.

Have a wonderful weekend! Hope you get inky!
Kimmy

Guilty Pleasures

As I am sitting here enjoying the beautiful weather on my day off I started thinking about "guilty pleasures". What makes them guilty? I don't feel guilty at all for the things I find pleasure in. But I would have to say my biggest guilty pleasure is Bravo TVs reality shows. I get hooked on them. Project Runway, The Real Housewives (of LA and NY), WorkOut, just to name a few. I try to stay away hoping I will lose interest when I haven't stayed caught up, but then they have a marathon! So I get re-hooked :)

I also have non-tv related guilty pleasures. I love my paper crafting - again I don't feel guilty. I also enjoy sitting on the patio with my coffee just feeling the warm breeze, or checking out all my favorite blogs. Now that I think about it I do get a bit of a guilty feeling - only because I SHOULD be cleaning the house, or finishing up that pile of laundry - but not guilty enough to stop and get back to the to-do list. Especially with the wonderful weather (finally) and the birds chirping. Now I know why dog's love to sit in the grass and smell the breeze. I am sure they are smelling completely different things than I am - ha ha ha. What's your guilty pleasure? Do you actually feel guilty enjoying it?

Well for another guilty pleasure stop by tomorrow to check out the first Fun Filled Friday! I better finish that challenge so you all can take a peek at it! And of course I will have a link to Jen's challenge too.

Happy Thursday
Kimmy

I've been a Blog slacker!

I have been a bad blogger! I know I have been slacking! Sometimes little things in life keep you busy busy busy. I had some training for work this week and switching to a day shift (I'm a midnighter) was pretty tough. Alarm clocks are NOT my friend! ha ha ha. This was my first class with this instructor and I was very impressed with the passion she had for teaching. She also had us pick secret buddies. So at the beginning of the first day everyone was given a card with some one's name in the class. You had to write down at least 3 positive things about that person and at the end of the last day we each had to get up and tell that person what 3 things we noticed about them. I am a people watcher so it was very interesting to see how many people (myself included) don't easily accept compliments.

In case you are wondering what's new I submitted 6 cards to Papercrafts Magazine. I have about 10 more ready to go, but I am deciding which magazine I want to send them to. Also my good friend Jen and I are starting our Fun Filled Friday blog challenges next week. So keep a watch out for our weekly projects. I am giving the first challenge and it's to use some stamps I got on clearance for $1 at Joann's. They are a little out of norm for us so I can't wait to see what we come up with.

More exciting news Shackapalooza is only 2 weeks away for all you Shackies! Can't wait to meet all of my crafty sistahs that are going. I am still deciding what to bring to work on. I keep telling myself if I plan ahead I won't need to bring as much. But I can't decide what to plan for. In case you didn't notice I'm not so good at planning ahead. I am sure I will bring waaaay too much (as usual). At least we are not flying! So crafty sistahs - how do you pack for crops? How about 3 day crops? Do you plan projects ahead of time or just bring as much as possible? Do you pack more supplies than clothes?

After my training class I decided I need to give more praise and compliments to people. When you give of yourself you get way more in return. So I am trying to think of more ways to give. I would love to help out at a senior center, or with rescued animals - guess I should look into that! So tell me - How do you give of yourself? Have you told someone how much you appreciate them lately? How do you handle compliments? And please any packing advise - :)

Thanks for visiting all you beautiful bloggers!
Kimmy
PS check out Inkling of Love , and The voices in my head for a chance at some blog candy!

My first Blog Challenge!

For quite some time now my crafting goal has been to get published! But for some silly reason I can't seem to get my butt in gear to actually write up directions and submit some of my work. That is until now. My dear friend Jen (who was just published in Just Cards click to see) has challenged me to finally submit some cards for publishing. Since we have been discussing having blog challenges between the two of us I figured I better take this one seriously to get us off to a good start. So I spent the past couple nights gathering some cards I would like to submit and trying to find all the brands of the items used. (*note to self start keeping track of items used on cards in a notebook so it's easy to find) This was a long process. I had to go through a lot of my scraps hoping there was a piece of paper left with the company name on it. Well I now have 7 cards ready to go - directions and all! WOO HOO!! Now I just have to take some nice pictures and email them in. (wish me luck)

With one challenge almost met - is it time for another? I am also making some personal challenges for myself. I am going to give the "green juice" kick a try, hoping that will get me feeling better. I have the ingredients in the fridge, the hard part is going to be getting up early enough before work to juice. Everyone that drinks it daily swears by it. I also am going try not to stress about little things in life (easier said than done). I also am trying to do things that are relaxing and make me happy (this was my DH's idea). Yesterday I went to Borders, got a coffee and browsed around the book store for about an hour. That was followed up by a trip to a few craft stores, then lunch with DH. So it was a pretty relaxing day, of course it was a bit busy and I was ready for bed by 7, but I forced myself to stay up. I am not setting a weight loss goal for myself. I decided until I feel healthy again (and find out what the Dr has to say), I am not going to stress about my weight. I would much rather feel good then be skinny.

Have you been challenged lately? What are some of your personal goals? How have you been doing with these goals and/or challenges?

Health and happiness,

Kimmy