Fun-Filled Friday

Happy Fun-Filled Friday!

Well, as you probably noticed I am taking a week or so off of blogging - with the exception of our Fun-filled Fridays. I am looking for a new blog layout and sorting through old posts figuring out how I want to label them so they are easy to look through, and figuring out a couple of other blog things along the way. It's a slow going process for me especially with my work schedule. I work 12 hour shifts on midnights and have been trying to get a day or two of overtime here and there - which has been leaving me no time for getting caught up on my projects or blog. So this is my little catch up time. Enough about that on with this weeks challenge!

Jen challenged me to make an anniversary card this week. I realized I don't have ANY anniversary sentiments! What's up with that? Guess I'll have to put it in the back of my head to keep an eye out for. Here is what I came up with:


Since I didn't have a sentiment I used a bride and groom image I had. I have been in a very blue and brown mood lately and I don't know why - it is one of my favorite color combos. I also got to use the Just My Type Borders Cuttlebug Embossing Folders set I bought while I was visiting my parents last week. I added some rhinestones for a little bling!

Supplies :

• Stamps ~ A Muse Artstamps - Wedding Pose (#2-1046D); Stampin Up! - French Script
  
• Ink ~ Memories - artprint brown; Versa Mark; Colorbox Chalk Inks Turquoise
• Miscellaneous ~ card stock - Bazzill; rhinestones - A Muse; ribbon - Deja Views; Cuttlebug Just My Type Borders Embossing Folders; Nestabilities Lables 2.
  

I hope you enjoyed today's card. Did you try this week's challenge? If so please leave a link so we can check it out. If you have any tips or ideas for my new blog please let me know - I'll take any advise I can get:) Also I am always looking for ideas for my What's that Wednesdays or our Fun-Filled Friday's challenges so please feel free to let me know of anything you would like to see.

Have any plans this weekend? Unfortunately I'll be at work all weekend. Oh well, have to pay for my stamp habit some how - right? ha ha ha.... Whatever you do enjoy!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Closed for remodeling!

My blog is going tone closed for about a week while I do some remodeling on it. I will be posting my Fun filled Friday challenge though. You may wonder what brought this on? Well I applied for a few design teams in the past few months (ok probably more than a few) and didn't get picked for any of them. That is kind of hard to take especially when you don't get an explaination. I get over each one pretty quickly and I don't apply with my hopes too high but the rejection is still a downer. I totally understand that companies can't tell everyone that applies why they did not get picked but I still want to know:) The last rejection I got actually told me my blog didn't have enough traffic to promote their company - hey I can deal with that. Since I keep putting off making some changes that prompted me to get my butt in gear! I was going to try to do it without taking some time off of posting but with working 12 hour shifts I don't have much me time on work days.

Next Wednesday I will have a What's that Wednesday review and a whole new blog look!

Have a great week!
Kimmy

Anniversary Card

This week Jen is challenging me to make an Anniversary card. Actually perfect timing for me my parents Anniversary is March 3rd! This should be fun I don't think I have made an anniversary card yet. I wonder if i have a stamp for that?

Well today I am heading back to Michigan. Send me safe flight vibes:) I hate flying! I started reading Twilight so at least that is something to make the time go by faster. I am not much of a reader, but I am getting kinda sucked into this book. I like when you want to keep going and see where the story takes you.

I hope all my friends in Blogland had a wonderful weekend. When I get home this afternoon I'll have to take a nap and get ready for a long night of work. I'm already thinking of when my next trip to my parents can be:) I get 4 days off every other week so my wonderful husband encourages me to go as often as our finances allows. Isn't he sweet!

Make suer you check in through out the week. I have some projects for you.

Happy Crafting,

Kimmy

Prismacolor pencil tutorial - take 1

As I promised here is a quick photo tutorial on how I color with Prismacolor pencils. I titled this "take 1" because I am still out of town and not quite happy with the way the photos came out. That is what can happen when you use tools you aren't used to. Hopefully when I get home I can get some better pictures and perhaps give a video tutorial a shot. Don't hold your breath on that one cause I'm not to handy with my camera yet:) Here are the supplies you will need for today :

Card stock
Black ink
Stamp
Prismacolor pencils
Gamsol
Blending stumps

Step 1:
Stamp your image using a waterproof ink (such as Versa Fine, Momento, or Staz On) (please don't mind the green leaf I must have fogotten to take a picture before I started coloring. I am going to show you how to color the Acorn part of this stamp)

Step 2:
With your lightest color, color at the outer edge of image

Step 3:
Dip the tip of your blending stump into the Gamsol

Step 4:
Using a small circular motion pull the color towards the center of the image

Step 5
Repeat steps 2 - 4 with your next shade or color until you achieve the look you want.

Thanks for stopping by! Again as soon as I get home and settled back in I promise a better tutorial! Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for our Fun-Filled Friday challenge announcement!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Fun-Filled Friday

Happy Fun-Filled Friday.

Sorry again for my lack of posting this week. I am out of town and didn't get the pictures loaded I had planned before I left. Again work gets in the way of fun. Darn those bills that need to get paid! I am still hoping to get a tutorial posted tomorrow (with Mom's help of course).

Well on with this weeks challenge. As you may know I challenged Jen to make a card in 10 mins or less! Ok this is a difficult task to being with now lets also add in for me it was a limited supply challenge. I didn't get to work on it before heading out to my parents and since I was flying I only packed 4 crafting items :

1. my ATG

2. my Prismacolor pencils

3. one SU! set

4. black Versa Fine ink

I then came up with a concept in my head and picked up some ink at Walmart here in Minnesota, and stole some of Mom's card stock. I even had my mom set the timer for 10 mins to see how I would do and I finished my last bit of gluing right as the timer went off WHEW! here is the outcome:

Since I didn't pack any embellishments and my Mom is a little lacking in that department and 10 mins didn't give me much time, I decided to layer 2 butterflies on top of each other and fold the wings a bit to give it a 3-D effect. Here is a close up:

Supplies :

• Stamps - Stampin Up!
• Ink - Versa Fine black, all colors by Martha Stewart
• Miscellaneous - card stock by The Paper Company, Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol

Well, it was pretty challenging for me. I had to use a cutter and scissors I wasn't used to and go digging around my Mom's house for supplies before I started. But a card in 10 mins or less can be done. I am sure it would have been something a little more creative had I had all my own supplies but for what I had I think I did pretty good.

I would love to see your 10 mins or less card. Post a link to it in my comments. And don't forget to see what Jen came up with this week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

What's that Wednesday

Sorry for not posting anything last night. It took me longer than expected to get everything done,packed and ready for my trip. Now if work wouldn't get in the way of fun I would be all set - ha ha ha. Well on with the important stuff.

This week I wanted to talk about one of my absolute favorite parts of stamping COLORING! And my favorite way to color is with Prismacolor Pencils. These are another pricey tool to have but well worth it for those of you who love to color. I love how smooth the color goes on and that they can easily be blended many ways. My favorite is using Gamsol or mineral spirits. I originally started with OMS (odorless mineral spirits) that were just sitting in my garage and I will say they worked very nicely but still had a but of an odor. The Gamsol is actually odorless (to me anyways). I got mine from Angela's Happy Stamper in Virginia, but it can be found at many LSS and online stores. I know Inky Antics and Gina K sell it in their online stores just to name a couple. You also need blending stumps for this process. You can find these at your local crafting store. They are actually just paper sticks that you dip into the Gamsol and use to pull the color around they come in different sizes and firmness. Try a few to see which work best for you. I prefer the Taiwanese over the Chinese ones because they are softer.

To blend using Gamsol I usually will color just the outer edges of my image and blend inward with my Gamsol. (I think we may need a tutorial in the next few days). This gives a very nice look. You can then add color to darken areas and keep blending as you go. It's actually very easy and there are several ways to blend - that's just the way I like to do it best.

You can also try the colorless blended pencil. When I use this I apply my different colors starting with the lightest first and use the colorless blended pencil at the very end. ( now I am really thinking pictures would have been a good idea). The same concept works for just blending colors as you go. I haven't tried this yet but heard it works. You start with the lightest color and just keep on adding and layering colors until you get the look you like.

While typing this I convinced myself a tutorial is in order. I am going to be at my parents this week and my Mom has been wanting to learn how I color too so maybe I'll give her a little class and snap some photos for you all. I'll post something Saturday so come check it out. If you have Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, and blending stumps bring them along.

Now if you don't have Prismacolor pencils I started out with some Crayola colored pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits and got a similar effect. It's not as smooth and you don't have as many colors to chose from but to give it a try it's a much cheaper version. I know there are many other pencils out there that people love, but I haven't tried any, so I can't compare. I also haven't done much with Copic markers yet, I am still debating about starting down that road. I am sure I will get hooked and I know those could get really expensive. I have played a little with Bic and Prismacolor markers, but I am no expert.

Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see reviewed on my What's that Wednesday - I can always use ideas! Thanks for stopping by!

Make sure you check back Saturday to see how I like to color! And Friday is our 10 minutes or less card reveal.

Happy Crafting!
Kimmy

Posting delay

Good morning all my blog followers. I have not forgotten about you;) I wanted to let you know today's post will be posted later on this evening. I am flying out to visit my parents tomorrow (all by my lonesome) and have alot to get done before I go. I also trying to get some things planned for my hubby to have around the house to eat and keep himself busy while I'm gone. I promise I'll have a project to share later so make sure you check in.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Fun-Filled Friday Challenge Announcement

This week it's my turn to challenge Jen. I decided since I am leaving Wednesday to visit my parents and I have to work Sunday - Tuesday I better make it something that can be whipped up. So I decided we have to make a card in 10 minutes or less! Of course if your creative process is like mine this is completely impossible! So the 10 minutes doesn't include the thought process. I am going to try to come up with a sketch or idea if I get a break at work and when I actually sit down to work I'll start the timer. I'll let you know how long it takes.

I'm curious how long it actually takes to make a card. Usually I color some images thumb through some paper and see what comes to me while I am sitting there. Who know this may turn over a whole new leaf for me. Maybe I will decide to become more organized and think things out ahead of time. Hmmm isn't that what "Take Ten" is always looking for?

Well wish us luck. I hope you decide to play along. And for those of you who entered Jen's blog candy give away - good luck!

Happy crafting,
Kimmy

Fun-Filled Friday!

Happy Fun-Filled Friday The 13th!

If you are a follower of my blog you probably know this weeks challenge was a stipulation challenge given by Jen. The stipulations were :

• main image must be matted on circle
• must use pink
• no red
• must contain heart(s)
• must use button(s)

This is what I came up with:

Supplies :
stamps by Stampin Up! Pun Fun; card stock by The Paper Company; miscellaneous - black Versa Fine ink, pink Colorbox Chalk ink, Cuttlebug Hearts embossing folder, Heidi Swapp rhinestones, Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol, light pink chalk, Nestabilities circles and scallop circles, Stampin Up! word window punch, flower button manufacturer unknown.

As you can see I used my Nesties to mat my main image on several circles, used pink, no red, I used Cuttlebug embossing folder for my Hearts, and the flower button completes all the stipulations. This was a very fun challenge! Now I am going to run over and see what Jen came up with.

Well tomorrow is Valentine's Day.... Do you have anything special planned? My DH and I both have to work. I have another V-Day card for tomorrow.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Exciting News

I have some news I am happy I can FINALLY share with you. I have been keeping a secret for about a year now. My very good friend Beth has opened her own stamp company Sunflowers and Dragonflies. She is the artist behind most of images from her company. Beth is from Sarnia, Canada and many of her stamps have a very special Canadian flair. From Canadian architecture to nature there is something for everyone. She also features products for the Red Hat ladies. There are also other supplies to fit your creative needs, coloring supplies, cutting supplies, embellishments, paper, Prima Flowers, and stamps from Rachelle Anne Miller and Sarah Kay! Make sure you go check out her store. She is also selling some of her own cards.


The other big surprise! She asked me to be on her design team! I was so honored! Of course I feel I have a lot to live up to because Beth is phenomenal artist. Stay tuned next week for some projects I created with her stamps.

The other Design Team members include:

Jennifer from Ink 'n Scrap Habits

Kim from Running on Ink

Kim from Creative Diversions

I am so happy to finally be able to share Beth's work with everyone! It's been a long process for her and I wish her all the best.

Be Mine - House Mouse Challenge

Well, I am back home from my week away. It's nice to be home, but it stinks coming back to reality. It always means time to go back to work, and back to the normal daily routine. I had a very nice visit with my parents in Minnesota though. I am going for another visit by myself in a week! Lucky me! So I guess I really can't complain can I?

I thought I would continue with my Valentine's theme this week and this card fits in with the House Mouse Challenge for this week to use a tall and thin card. This is my first week playing along. I decided I needed to start trying some of these challenge blogs and since I don't use my House Mouse and Happy Hoppers as much as I should this should help. You can check out the House mouse challenge blog here. So here is what I came up with :

and here is a close up where you can see I went a little crazy with the diamond glaze :)

Supplies :

• Stamps House Mouse - Be Mine Heart & Sole (#HMER1014), Stampin Up! - Just Celebrate
• paper The Paper Company
• inks brown Versa Color, Black Versa Fine
• Miscellaneous - Pink Glaze pen; Paper ribbon hearts by K & Co., Prismacolor markers, rhinestones by Heidi Swapp, Diamond Glaze.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our Fun-Filled Friday challenge posts! And Saturday for another Valentine's Day creation. I have to make up for skipping Tuesday!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

What's That Wednesday

Sorry today's post is a little late. I had some Internet issues.

This weeks "What's That Wednesday" is all about border punches. Border punches are another one of my favorite tools. As of right now I only own a few by Fiskars and Martha Stewart. I think they are a great way to add a little something to your projects and they are so versatile. One of the most wonderful things about border punches is you determine the size. You can make them as long or as short as you need. Another great thing is the price. They normally run around $15 and with a 40% off coupon at Michaels or Joann's you are out of there for under $10.

A quick tip I have learned with Fiskars and Martha Stewart border punches:

they take off 1/4" when you punch with them

It took some trial and error to figure this out. I measure alot to try to create equal borders so this is one of those things I needed to find out. (must be the old engineering student me)

I must give some praise to Fiskars. I bought a embossing border punch before Christmas and it would not punch right. It also was extremely difficult to punch. I emailed them and they were so helpful. With just a few emails back and forth I had a new on shipped to me free of charge. It arrived in a couple weeks and works great. I highly recomend them for their products and customer service.

I hope you found this helpful and informative. If there's anything you would like to see reviewed let me know and I'll try my best.
Stay tuned for tomorrows creation.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

LOVE YOU A LATTE!

Here is a little something to get you ready for Valentine's Day :

Supplies : stamps - SU! Pun Fun; card stock - The Paper Company; ribbon - Bobbie M. Designs; punches - SU! Word Window Punch, Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge Punch; Miscellaneous - Prismacolor Markers, Cuttlebug Hearts Embossing folder, Heidi Swapp Rhinestones.

Very simple to make and one of my favorite combos - pink and browns - well tan in this case! Stay tuned Wednesday for this week's What's that Wednesday!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

BLOG CANDY BIRTHDAY GIVE AWAY!!!

Jen is having a huge blog candy give away to celebrate her birthday! Make sure you check out her blog Ink 'n Scrap Habits! She is giving away a pretty big pile of loot to celebrate her birthday. The big blog candy give away will be February 15th, so make sure you go check it out. The information will be on the top of her blog until the big day so you can't miss it! Good luck - she has some fabulous stuff up for grabs.

Kimmy

Fun-Filled Friday Challenge Announcement

This week Jen is making our Fun-Filled Friday challenge a stipulation challenge. Or should I say a few stipulations? Here is what our projects must contain or not contain :

-main image must be matted on circle
-must use pink
-no red
-must contain heart(s)
-must use button(s)

Sounds a little challenging huh? Well with Valentine's Day right around the corner these stipulations fit. The no red is going to be the trickiest part for me I think.

Well am out of town for a few more days hope you had a fabulous weekend. I hope to have some great projects for you all when I get back. I have been enjoying having more posts every week and really like hearing your feedback. Let me know what you do and don't like.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Fun-Filled Friday

First we have to start off this weeks post with a special birthday wish to my FFF partner Jen! ahem ahem...me me me me me...

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Jen!

Happy birthday to you!!!!!!

And for all the polish folks out there

Sto lat, sto lat niech zy-je zy-je nam, sto lat, sto lat
niech zy-je, zy-je nam. Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz
niech zy-je, zy-je nam. Niech zy-je nam!

Happy Birthday friend! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and get spoiled rotten!!!

Now back to this week's Fun-Filled Friday Challenge. As you may know it was to try Chalkboard Technique. This was fun to try. I had to do some shopping for this challenge - I didn't have any white ink! How can I call myself a stamper - ha ha ha. (I also picked up the stamp set I used - I didn't want a coupon to go to waste) Make sure you stop by Jen's blog to see what she came up with for this week's challenge.

Supplies : card stock by The Paper Company, Stamps by Inkadinkado - Garden Delights, Color Box frost white ink, Color Box chalk ink turquoise, Fiskars Sunburst border punch, ribbon by Offray, Chalk, white Glaze pen, brads by Oriental Trading

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's card. Stay tuned Sunday for our next Challenge. I hope you decide to give it a try. If you tried the chalkboard technique I would love to see what you came up with.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

MSU Birthday!

This is a very special Birthday card for my friend Jen! She is a HUGE Michigan State fan so I decided to go with that as the theme.

Supplies : stamp by Pink Cat Studios, background stamp by Stampin' Up!, sentiment by Inkadinkado - Garden Delight, card stock by Bazzill, Stampin' Up ticket corner punch, Fiskars threading waters border punch, stickles, Nestabilities

What do you think? Tomorrow is her birthday so if you get a chance make sure you stop by her blog to wish her a very happy birthday!

Make sure you stop by tomorrow for our Fun-Filled Friday projects. This weeks challenge was to use the Chalkboard Technique.

Happy crafting,
Kimmy

What's That Wednesday?

This week's What's That Wednesday I am going to continue my discussion of the Cuttlebug. I am a huge fan of the Nestabilities and found a wonderful project to use with the Cuttlebug and your Nesties - it's the Sizzix Crease Mat. This mat allows you to cut and emboss using the Nesties in one run through the Cuttlebug.

Normally you would have to cut the paper with your die, leave the paper in the die, get your "embossing mat" and run the whole thing back through the Cuttlebug. With the crease mat it's all done at once. How wonderful! Here is a picture of how I set mine up:


As you can see the recipe U used was :
A plate
shim
crease mat
paper
die
C plate

Here is a picture of how the embossed piece looks:

I forgot to get an embossing mat when I purchased my Nesties and was very eager to emboss and cut with them. I found the embossing mat at Cut @ Home for $8.99 and if you are a VIP member you get a 40% off coupon every month. I found my Sizzix Crease mat at Michaels for $8.99 and I used one of my 50% coupons. I wasn't sure how well it was going to work so I made sure I didn't spend too much money. When you get the Crease Mat you will have to cut about 1/4" off of one of the sides so that it will fit in your Cuttlebug. I have used it on many of my projects already and am LOVING IT!!! I am pretty sure you could find this item anywhere that sells Sizzix products so check around - especially places where you can use a coupon:)

I hope you found this information helpful. If you have any items you would like to see reviewed please let me know.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Birthday RAK!

For those of you follow Jen's blog you probably noticed the post about her Aunt turning 93!!! What a milestone! She asked people to RAK your Aunt with birthday cards to make her day special. She did this a few years ago to and posted a picture of her Aunt with all the cards for us all to see. For those of you who don't know what a RAK is, it stands for Random Act of Kindness. It's just something you do to make someone feel special and not expect or want anything in return. In my opinion knowing you have brought a smile to someones face is quite a reward. (awe what a mushy statement to make). Here is the card I made for Jen's Aunt:



Supplies : card stock by Bazzill; stamps by Stampin' Up, ribbon by Offray, Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder, Nestabilities circle set, stickles, gems by Heidi Grace, Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol.

I love how it turned out! Of course I had to add a little "bling" to it. It's a very simple layout and was super easy to make too! I actually made a few to have on hand.

I hope you decide to stop in tomorrow for my What's that Wednesday - I am going to talk about an accessory for your Cuttlebug and Nesties.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Picture Tag

Saturday my friend Jen tagged me! This was a fun game.

Here are the instructions:

1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.

2. Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder.

3. Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.

4. Tag 6 other people that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them.

Since my DH is always transferring out files to our external hard drive I actually didn't have 6 folders. Isn't that crazy?? So I went the the last folder I had and picked the 6th picture and here it is:

This is one of the pictures from my DH's Honor Guard School graduation. They had a mock double funeral and this was in the procession. It was very real and sad. My hubby is the one holding the American Flag. That's his position when their honor guard does any type of details. I was so proud of what a great job they all did.

Well the 6 blogs I am tagging are :

Forgetfulone

Chrissy's Creative Spot

My Fence Posts

Sunflowers and Dragonflies

Aspergers Happens

Sandra Joseph

Stay tuned I have some fun stuff to share this week. Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Fun-Filled Friday Challenge Announcement

This week I get to challenge Jen for our Fun-Filled Friday challenge. I decided we should try a new technique that I have been putting off trying for some time now. So this weeks challenge is to use the "chalkboard technique". I found a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers you can see here.

I am very excited to give this a try. It's a very different look. I got my coupons ready so I can go buy a white ink pad just for this technique:) Have you tried this technique yet? What do you think of it? If not why don't you give it a try and let us know what you came up with.

This week I will be out of town to visit my parents so I am going to try to get this done before I go. I am so excited to see them again. Wish me luck! Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures this trip - I always forget for some reason.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy