Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!!

We got back from visiting my parents late last night. I am glad to be home after the looong drive, but I always hate leaving my Dad and Mom. I always feel kind of spoiled when I visit, since mom always has my favorite foods and treats:) I am finally rested and ready to get back to normal - well not really.

Since I didn't get to post my Fun Filled Friday Halloween creation earlier here it is:



To make this card I started with 2 pieces of pattern paper. I cut them to make a diamond pattern. Then I layered that on black card stock. I then glued that on to a 6x6 card base. Next I stamped the sentiment on orange card stock, and layered that on black. Then I glued a piece of ribbon along the bottom portion of the card and glued my layered sentiment on the center of the ribbon. Finally I added stickles to the pattern paper for some bling!

Supplies : paper by Heidi Grace, stamp by DRS Designs, ribbon by Retail Inc, card stock by Bazzill, stickles.

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween! I am being lazy and feel kind of bad I didn't have time to get candy to pass out to the kiddies. Oh well, there's always next year! How did you celebrate Halloween this year?

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Halloween Spooktacular!

Any guesses on this weeks FFF challenge? I’ll give you two clues it’s October 31, and BOO! You guessed it HALLOWEEN! Let’s see what spooky creations we can make. Hmmm.... Maybe I can make something "candy" related? Guess you will have to wait to see what I come up with.

So do you celebrate Halloween? It used to be one of my favorite holidays because you got to dress up and be anything you wanted for 1 day! Plus who can complain about free candy? Did you ever have a favorite costume? I think mine was when I dressed up as a harim girl. I loved that costume it was purple (which was my favorite color even back when I was a kid). Of course in Michigan we usually had to wear many layers under our costumes since Halloween is usually pretty chilly.

Check back Friday for some “spooktacular” cards. I can't wait to see your creations. Don't forget about my monthly blog candy.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Miss You!

It's Friday! I am very excited today I am heading to visit my parents - I haven't seen them in 3 months! Also it's Fun-Filled Friday so hope you are ready to see my Lemon Juice technique put to use. I want to warn you this card is very "simple" for two reasons. 1 - I wanted to showcase the lemon juice technique (which probably could have been a bit darker), and 2 - I packed up a lot of my supplies to take on my trip. Well, here's what I came up with.



To make this card I first stamped the image in black ink on plain white card stock. Then I colored the image in with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with Gamsol. Next I cut the image and inked the edges in brown. Then I layered it on cream card stock then again on brown card stock. Next I cut a piece of cream card stock to 4"x5 1/4" and applied lemon juice by dipping my finger in it and rubbing it on the paper. Next I used my heat gun to dry the juice which turned it brown. (I didn't use much since I wasn't familiar with the technique yet so next time I would put a little more lemon juice). Next I inked the edges of the cream card stock in brown. Then I glued the cream card stock to the center of a brown A2 card base. I then cut 3 different ribbons, folded them in half and added them to the right side of the layered image to make tabs. Then I glued the image on the card in the upper left corner. Finally I stamped my sentiment in brown on the lower right corner of the card. Here is a close up of my image.



Supplies : Stamps - SU!, sentiment - Image Tree; Paper - Prismatics; Ribbon - Portfolia, Bobbie M. Designs; ink - Tim Holtz distressing ink, Memories art print brown, VersaFine black; Prismacolor pencils, gamsol.

What do you think? I don't know if I will be able to post much this week since I am going to be out of town, but I promise I am going to get some crafting done to share with you when I get back. Have you tried the lemon juice technique? Remember I am giving away monthly blog candy so if you did give this challenge a try remember to post a link to your design in the comments. Here is the link to information on my blog candy.

Well, hope you have a wonderful weekend and get lots of crafting done!

Happy Crafting!
Kimmy

Cards for Troops!

For WCMD Gina K decided to collect cards for the troops. I am donating 50! For every card you send in you get and entry to win a prize from Gina K. Here are the details on her blog. What an honor to be a part of such a thoughtful donation. I thought I would share this with everyone so here is a picture of the different designs I am sending in:


I sure hope the family members of the troops enjoy everyone's cards. I am dropping my box filled with cards at the Post Office today. What a great way to start the week:)

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Lemon juice Technique

I know lemons have a lot of uses. I put lemon in my water or tea. I also love putting the lemon rinds in my garbage disposal - it makes my whole kitchen smell so good. But this week lemons are taking on paper crafting! For our Fun-Filled Friday challenge Jen and I are going to try out the lemon juice technique - here is a tutorial from the Stamp Shack. Looks pretty easy huh? I guess I have to go get some lemons:)

Well, this morning we are heading over to my sister in laws. Her hubby is making us breakfast and we are going to look over their wedding pictures and watch their wedding DVD. Since my DH and I work midnights we decided a breakfast would work out much better than dinner.

Do you have any Sunday plans? Make sure you check in through out the week. Since my computer is back up and running (for now anyways). I am going to post some more challenges and creations.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

An Apple A Day.......

Last week I challenged you all to make a Fall Themed card. What is more fall then apple picking??? So....here is what I made:


This card measured 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". I started by stamping my image on plain white card stock using black Versa Fine ink. I have found that Versa Fine ink works best for images with fine details. Next I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with mineral spirits. I then cut the image out and used a corner rounder on the upper right and lower left corner. I layered that image on red, then brown then grey card stock also rounding the coordinating corners as I went. Then I cut a piece of red card stock to 5"x5". Next I cut a strip of my pattern paper 1"x5" and glued that to the red card stock. I then rounded 2 of the corners of that piece. Next I layered the red piece on a brown piece again rounding 2 of the corners. I glued my brown piece to the center of my grey card base. Then I glued the red/pattern piece on top of that and finally added my layered image. How do you like it? I was pretty impressed that I had card stock that matched my pattern paper perfectly - how did that happen?

Stamp: Stampabilities Happy Hoppers "An Apple A Day"; Pattern paper: DCWV; Card Stock: Nature Preserve by Crestwood; Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our Fun Filled Friday challenge announcement.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Jen's Sketch Challenge

This week I played along with Jen's Wednesday Sketch challenge. You can see her sketch here. And here is what I came up with :


I really wanted to use my pumpkin image so I turned her sketch sideways. To make this card I first stamped my image on plain white card stock using black VersaFine ink. I colored the image in using my Bic markers. Then I used Nesties to cut out the image and emboss the edges. Then with orange chalk ink I sponged the background. Next I inked the edges with black chalk ink. Then I glued ribbon to each of the corners of black card stock. Then I glued my image to the center of the black card stock and added orange brads above and below image. Next, I glued the black card stock to the orange 5"x7" card base. Then I added a dot of black stickles to each of the scallops. I also added black stickles to the eyes and mouths of the pumpkins. Next I added a dot of stickles to each of the 4 corners and let dry.

Stamp: Stampendous Pumpkin Trio; Card Stock: The Paper Company; Ribbon: Maya Road; ink: VersaFine black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink - orange and black.

Well, time for me to get some work done :)

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Happy Halloween Sketch challenge

Sorry this is late, I just checked my blog and realized my post never posted... Wanna know why?? I put in October 18th for the date and today would be the 17th. DUH!!! Don't you hate those silly mistakes???

This week Jen challenged me to use one of Kerry's sketches from the Shack. I was in a very Halloweenie mood this past week so the next few posts you see may have that theme. Here is what I cam up with.



This card was very easy to make. I took my pattern paper and cut a piece 3"x4" then cut that into 8 equal sized strips. I glued the strips evenly spaced apart to black card stock. I then layered that on orange paper. Next I stamped the "Happy Halloween" sentiment in black ink on orange card stock and layered that on black then again on orange. Then I cut a strip of ribbon and dove tailed the ends then glued that to the lower portion of my 5"x5" card base. Next I glued my sentiment on the center of the ribbon. And finally glued my pattern paper piece to the upper portion of the card base. So what do you think?

Stamps : DRS; Ribbon : Ribbon Trends; Paper : DCWV; Cardstock : Bazzill

Do you have any plans this weekend? I am working on my first "paying" scrapbook. I am a little nervous since it's my first time making a scrapbook to someone else's specs. It's a smaller book so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Did you make a card using the sketch this week? I would love to see it.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Technical difficulties

Well, it's Thursday and FINALLY my computer is back up and running! My DH had to uninstall and re-install everything on our computer and last night finally finished getting the internet and everything back up and running. So sorry for not posting over the weekend like I had planned. I did manage to get a lot of crafting done over the weekend. Stay tuned and I will get some pictures loaded very soon. I also finally played along with Jen's sketch challenge Wednesdays. I made a really cute fall card too. Of course we did a ton of chatting and munching at our crop get together Friday:) It was so nice to see my friend Kathy!

Tomorrow is FFF here on my blog! I hope you like my card for this week, and I can't wait to see what Jen came up with. I have some more fun stuff for next week - hope you can play along (and I have my fingers crossed my computer doesn't have anymore issues).

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Sketch Challenge

Ok it's Jen's turn again. This week she is challenging me to use one of Kerry’s sketches from the Shack. Here’s what the sketch looks like:

I would love to see your take on this sketch, or any interesting sketches you can find.
Wish us luck this week. I can't wait to see your take on this sketch. Remember to post a like to your creation in my comments for a chance to win my monthly blog candy.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Scallops, scallops and more scallops....

Happy Friday! You know what that means - Fun-filled-Friday! This week our challenge was scallops. Since I have not yet jumped on the Nesties wagon (it's for financial reasons) I had to dust off my Marvy Uchida punches :) I decided to go with a circle scallops. I came up with this sketch using circles so I just made my circles scalloped. I also stuck with my "fall" mood. Here is what I came up with.




This is actually a very simple card to make. This card is 5"x7" (not a usual size for me). I started by picking out some colors I thought went well together. Then I cute a strip of the light grey to 1.5"x6.5" and I ran that through my Fiskars "leave it to weaver" border punch. Then I ran some polka dot ribbon through it. I then glued that to the right side of the card to leaving a 1/4" boarder on top, bottom and the right side. Next I stamped my "fall" image on one of the scallops and matted that on the larger scallop. Then I started layering my scallops. I was trying to create a sort of flowing pattern with the scallops. So what do you think?

Supplies: card stock by Nature Preserve, stamp by Studio G, ink is Art Print Brown by Memories, ribbon by JoAnn's Best Value, punches - Fiskars "leave it to weaver", Marvy Uchida mega and giga scallop circles.

Did you make a scallop card this week? I would love to see it!

Do you have any plans for the weekend? I am very excited I am getting together for a crafty night with a couple of my girlfriends tonight!!! Of course I am bringing tons of stuff to work on, but probably won't get a thing done :)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend what ever you do.
Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Sketch Wednesday

Today's challenge is to use a sketch. There are so many sketches out there it's kind of mind boggling. You can get sketches from magazine, or websites like the Stamp Shack, Splitcoaststampers, or Page Maps to name a few. My friend Jen also has Sketch Wednesdays every week. She also has monthly blog candy for one lucky participant in her Sketch Wednesdays. For today's challenge you have to use a sketch. It can be from anywhere you want or even one you made up. Just make sure you post a picture of the sketch and your creation. Put a link to your creation in my comments for this post. Your creation can be a scrapbook page, card, quilt, whatever! I can't wait to see your sketches. If you don't have time to work on anything today just post the sketch and when you finish your project make sure you post it.

Hope you decide to join in the fun! I love seeing every one's work.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Try something Tuesday!

Today is try something Tuesday! I thought it would be nice to learn something new from all of you. So for Try something Tuesday I want you to challenge me. Teach me a technique or yours or tell me one you would like to see me try. Since I have to work today, I will try it on my days off and post it for everyone to see. If it's something you have already tried please post a link to your creation so I can see how you did it. If it's something new to you too then why don't you try it with me? This should be fun!

For some great ideas check out my friend Beth's blog she has Technique Tuesdays every week. She also has many wonderful tutorials that unfortunately I haven't tried yet.

I'm ready hit me with some ideas!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Manic Monday!

Well it's Monday! For me Monday is the middle of my work week so it tends to drag. Actually lately all my work days drag. I thought maybe I would start this week off with a challenge and a chance to win some blog candy... Are you up for it??

I want to know if there is there anything that really inspires you in your paper crafting? Right now the changing leaves are really inspiring me to use reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. Typical fall colors huh? I know I am always a bit inspired by the seasons and weather around me. In Michigan Fall is so pretty to me. I love the smells of fall too. I can't wait to take a trip to the cider mill and get some fresh cider and donuts (even though I'm watching my diet), and a pumpkin to carve. In my mind I know it's truly fall when Starbucks gets Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Even though this year I am fighting the urge to have one. How about you?


Since Fall has been so inspirational to me, here's the challenge - I want to see your Fall Creations. Anything fall related will do. Cards, treat bags, altered projects, scrapbook pages ... anything. I'll post my creation on Saturday so we have a week to work on them.

This week I am also challenging myself to post every day. Wish me luck:) And make sure you check in to see what's going on, I feel a lot of challenges are heading your way.

Happy Crafting & Happy Fall!
Kimmy

Blog candy winner!!!

Well this month not too many people played along with our challenges :( Hopefully October will be better.

On to the winner of this months blog candy.......

The winner is ........

CHRISSYM!!!!

HERE is the card she made.

Chrissy has a wonderful blog full of gorgeous creations. Make sure you check it out. Chrissy please email me your address at klkowalik29@gmail.com. I thought I still had your addy, but I don't.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my monthly blog candy giveaway here are all the details. Also look for more opportunities to be entered in my monthly drawings.

Congrats again Chrissy!

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy

Scallops anyone???

I think it’s about time to pull out the scallop punches. So this week’s challenge is all about the Scallops. I don’t have any nesties yet so it just the Marvy Uchida punches for me! Maybe I can dust off my wishblade to get some other sizes. Can’t wait to see what Jen and I come up with this week. This challenge should be a little easier for us since we aren’t learning any new techniques this week.

Do you use scallops? Do you have any nesties? Do you like/dislike them? Don't forget to post a link to your scallop creations for an entry in my monthly blog candy.

Happy crafting, Kimmy

"seaing you makes me smile"

As you probably know this weeks challenge was Under the Sea! So we had to make something using anything sea related. I used Rubbernecker stamps - since they have such cute fish. What do you think?




To make this card I started by stamping my image on white card stock with black VersaFine ink. Next I colored it in with my Prismacolor markers. I added some touches with my white gel pen. then I added diamond glaze to the bubbles. After that was all dry I cut out the image and used my ticket corner punch on the corners. I matted it on black card stock and again used my ticket corner punch. Then I matted that on a shiny silver then again on black card stock.



Next I stamped the sentiment on blue card stock and used my ticket corner punch again. I matted that on black and punched the corners. Again I matted that on the shiny silver and then again on black. (you can kind of see the silver paper in the full picture)

Then, I cut my pattern papers (polka dot 2.5"x5.75" and striped 3.25"x5.75"). Then I taped them together on the back and added a piece of polka dot ribbon to cover the seam. I then matted the pattern paper on black and put the whole piece on my 6"x6" card base. Finally I added my matted image and sentiment on the front of the card using pop dots.

I was pretty lucky to find the Basic Grey papers in my scrap pile. I thought they coordinated so well.

Did you decide to play along this week? Hopefully you did. I would love to hear what you think of my card (good or bad).

I hope to get back to posting more often now that my hectic days are finally slowing down - and just in time to watch the leaves fall. Hope you are having a fabulous Autumn - it sure is a beautiful time of year.

Happy Crafting,
Kimmy