Welcome Sunshine!

A lot of you have been suffering under cloudy skies. I hope this post will brighten your day.

It is MY HONOR to congratulate Sunshine's Stamp Creations on their digital launch! Woohoo! Sunshine is offering a free digital image to celebrate their production. I was thrilled to get a digital copy and here's what I've made with him. His name is Angus Argus!

I love this guy! He has a sister named Angie - so if you want to deck her out and toss in some bling, feel free! This image is so versatile - I've seen kids cards, punny cards, grown up cards, reversed image cards. It's great!

My first thought when I saw Angus took me back to my firefighting days. I used to be an assistant mix-master working with those awesome tanker planes you see on the news. It was an awesome job, filled with responsibility, and I always came home pink from the dye. I have also served as a ground firefighter, and a helicopter firefighter. All those people are AWESOME and deserve a huge thank you! This is my thank you card for Boise this year. Hats off!!

This is a closer look at Angus' details. I colored him with red prismacolor pencil, then added my Pebbles metallic paste to his body and on the rotor wash. Kinda hard to see in this picture, but he sparkles like a freshly painted plane IRL.

I used Gina K's pure luxury heavy base red and black paper, Gina K's ribbon and brads, my SU! scalloped circle and label punches, and my scor-bug. Angus' image was printed in laser toner on my trusty old printer, and the sentiment (from Unity's Unity in America set) was stamped in Memento tuxedo black.

Again....HUGE Congrats to Sunshine Stamps! Stop by and see all the fabulous projects made with this image. You'll be blown away!

Ta for now! ~ky

Gina K Release Party!

Wow - Gina K got me back into scrappin'! And sewing! Do you sew on your projects? What's your excuse? Feel like you don't know enough about machines to do it? Feel like you don't know where to put the stitches, or how to sew on paper? Gina's taken the mystery out of sewing! She's even got a challenge on Stamp TV where you can post your projects to be entered in a drawing for a free stamp set!

I took this picture when my Dad came out to visit. He loves to play cards, and Reilly loves to play Uno. Between the two of them, the rest of us felt more like bait! I used the Special Fathers' set for the Grandfather clock and the sentiment. I colored the clock with SU! markers. I stamped the flower from Eclectic Summer on Bazzill cardstock and painted the petals with bleach. Then I stitched all over in a somewhat random fashion, distressed the paper and smeared a little tea dye all over. The title was cut from Bazzill CS by my trusty Cricut! I love gadgets!

So - pop on over to the release party. We've already started the pre-party, and we'll be going until 10 p.m. Central time. I hope to see you there!

Ta for now, ~ky

Tuesday Tinkering in the Studio

Yep, I'm tinkering today (with Tinker, no less!). I didn't do a single crafty thing yesterday, it was just a bad day. Today is better! Thought I'd show you my cards from VSN Mini this weekend.




This card was created for the Darth Tater Challenge. I love this theme for VSN - Paper Chef! Based on the ever popular Food Network Iron Chef series. Our challenge was to use the colors found in a baked potato with a secret ingredient - paprika! Red (or paprika) was to be an accent color. It's getting warm here, so my first thought was watermelon, which led to a seed spitting contest, and summer birthday parties! House Mouse Happy Hopper seed spitter took center stage along with Gina K Design's Eclectic Summer Sayings happy birthday.

Ingredients: SU! PP, Bazzill CS, GKD Pure Luxury Chocolate Chip CS, SU! markers, sweet pea Flower Soft, Robin's Nest dew drops, Offray ribbon, Memento tuxedo black, and SU! kiwi kiss inks.

This cutie was created for the Herb 'n' Man challenge to make a masculine card using the color of herbs. I used the Card Positioning System sketch #121 for the layout. I plan to give this to my darling husband who has been working so hard on our garden. At the end of the season we will have a ton of veggies to put up, and I really appreciate having a husband who loves to grow things. So, a little thank you and some mad money should let him know I appreciate him!

Ingredients: Gardener Flopsey (MFT), Thank You (Gina K - Eclectic Summer Sayings), Memento tuxedo black and SU! kiwi kiss inks, Prismacolor pencils and baby oil, Basic grey PP, Bazzill CS, Fiskar's border punch, and SU! scalloped circle and inner circle punch.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to scroll down to see the other things I've been working on lately.

Ta for now, ~ky

Father's Day {scroll down for other posts}

Happy Guy Day! Don't restrict yourself to just your Dad, celebrate all the fathers you know. Remember the guys who are away from home on duty, and the guys who don't have a family to remember them.

This is the card I sent my Dad. I hope he's having a great day, just relaxing and enjoying. Probably, he's mowing the yard or playing in the garden. Hey - whatever makes him happy! I'll be calling him later, just in case his plans included a nap!

Here's another guy card I made. Shhhh...it's for someone's birthday in a couple months. I used the Cottage Rumble challenge, and Gina K's Stamp TV challenge to use Nestabilities embossing only on a card. I love this technique!

The Cottage Rumble challenge was to make a birthday card and decorate the inside. So, this is the inside of mine!

Here are the details: Core'dinations cardstock with grey core. Nestabilities scalloped rectangles, Cuttlebug cutting and embossing of all front pieces. Then I sanded the front embossing. Stamps are all Gina K, Special Fathers and My Cuppa Joe, colored with Copic, and SU! markers. I used some smooch and stickles to bring out some features, a little Offray ribbon, Basic Grey button, Prima flower, and SU! twine.

Ok - hope you are having a fantastic day with your Dad, or your special guy. Be sure to scroll down and see what else I've been up to. Lots of stamping this weekend!

Ta for now, ~ky

I Love Parker!

Ashley - I'm so glad you evicted Parker. Yay!! I know you're just eating up all his little milky goodness, so I'll just have to play with my old dry dusty paper. This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge is the Potato Patch store. Ca-ute! While looking through their offerings, I was captivated by the cute kids she had posing with her products. So, my card is more of a feeling of insipiration rather than a single item.

I used the Stamp TV color challenge this week for the general colors, and my friend Shannon sent me this delightful Ketto image which I colored in prismacolor pencils with baby oil, and a little SU! marker action. I added some Smooch, colored some Offray ribbon with my Copic markers to match, added some Basic Grey DP and Bazzill cardstock with brads. The tag "Kind" is from Making Memories.

I also used Gina K's awesome tutorial on using Nestabilities dies with your Cuttlebug to create embossed images on your project. You should check it out!

Ta for now, ~ky

It's a Buns & Noble Kinda Day

Hello, friends out in cyber land! How is your Saturday shaping up? Mine is cloudy and cool. Perfect for a cuppa joe and a good book. I was roaming around the blogs recently and found the perfect sketch to convey my feel for this day. I used the Card Patterns Sketch #19 for this:

Kinda like Reading Flopsey here! Just a quick project I tossed together with ingredients laying on my stamping table. I love Flopsey. He does stuff we all love to do! And, he colors up just like my two girls really easily. For this card, I used Gina K's Chocolate Kiss pure luxury cardstock, SU! patterned paper, Offray ribbon, Robin's Nest dew drops, Memento tuxedo black ink, Bazzill's orange textured cardstock, my EK Success border punch, and my QuicKutz Revolution Alpha-dies. I colored Flopsey and his books with prismacolor pencils using the Gamsol Method.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy a laidback Saturday. Thanks so much for stopping by - I love it when you do!

Ta for now, ~ky

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

There's a song for the day! Yes...it's Thursday, and this is my post for Friday, and I don't have any Unity on my blog! Gasp! the world WILL now come to an end. Right. I was just lead in a different direction this week, and I thought I'd show you something new! Something different. Something ffffrrrrreeesh.

Soooo... I used Gina K's tutorial for polished stone. But then again I didn't. Quite. Get. There. I spritzed my paper with water (SU! Glossy Cardstock) and realized I'd messed up from the tutorial. I pretended I meant to do that. Come on - you do it too! Own up!

Next...after a cursing spell, I pulled out Tim Holtz's distressing ink pads in Concord Grape and Broken China and smushed (smooshed?) them around in the water. Still uncertain about the path I'm following, I get my felt pad drunk with alcohol (ok, so it's wood not grain alcohol - play along people!), and dropped some gold alcohol mixative ink on it. I just go to town. It's ruined anyway, right?

I hit it with the embossing gun (Lee, that means I turned on the embossing gun and dried it), and I think it's ok. But it still looks gross. I set it aside. I move on to other things (laundry, dinner, a night's good sleep). I come back the next day and touch it. It feels weird and my fingers have a golden hue to them. YUK. As I hold it over the trash bin, something inside me says, wait. What if it's just not ready to move on to the round file in the sky?? What if it's newborn, like Parker? They scrub babies before they show them off, right? Give it a chance!

Out comes a cottonball. Buffing, rubbing, gasping - oh my gosh! You were right! It was just covered in Poltergeist fluid! Suddenly it shines. The colors peek through then assert themselves! It's beautiful!! It needs something...Gina K challenge...yeah...color challenge? No...not quite. Sketch challenge? Yeah that's it!

So I color Star (Queen Kat Designs) with a combination of Copics (alcohol) and SU! (water-based) markers. I use a corner off a Basic Grey sheet, and some gold vellum that I ran through a Cuttlebug bubble folder, some Robin's Nest dew drops, a little Smmmoooch for the lips and mask, and a perfect sentiment from Gina K's Eclectic Summer sentiments stamped in Versafine pale purple ink.

Come on over to Stamp TV and hang out! Check out the tutorials and challenges! I'd love to see your work, so look me up! I hope you've had a really good day so far...with more happiness to come!

Ta for now, ~ky

My favorite color...

Is anything but PINK. So...my dear sweet friend Katy decided this week's You Shouldn't Have Left Us Alone challenge would be to use your least favorite color. Somebody save me from the madness!!!

So, Katy, dearest, is it PINK enough for you??!! Ha ha ha ahhhh.... Actually it was quite fun. I paired pink (another dear friend's favorite color) with raspberry and kiwi kiss (her un-favorite) so it's kind of like a torture card! Hey, if I gotta suffer, someone else should too!

So, reading Flopsey (My Favorite Things) was stamped in Memento tuxedo black on Pebbles white cardstock, colored with prismacolor pencils and baby oil. The sentiment was stamped with Memento Lilac Posies on pink Bazzill cardstock. The raspberry and kiwi kiss cardstock are both SU! as is the designer paper. A little Offray ribbon and some Doodlebug jewels round it off. I used the "Sketch for you to try" challenge (#19) for the layout.

I hope this help make your day a little more cheery knowing just how much I suffered! Ha!! Have a good laugh and enjoy your day!

Ta for now, ~ky

Gina K and Rupa Shevde

I just love Rupa Shevde's art. She's a gal after my own heart. Caffeine! So, my step-Mom is a sweetie, and she sent me a birthday card lamenting sending me a purchased card. So, I thought, I'll send her a thank you card that she can related to. My Dad and she take a family member out to treat to Sunday breakfast. They go for coffee almost everyday.

So...what do you think? Will she like it? Would you? Here are some of the details: I used the chalk enhancer technique that Gina taught on Stamp TV to color the muffins and plate, I used Smooch for the cool beans coffee cup and the sprinkles on the muffins. I used SU! designer paper, and Gina K CS. Her CS is divine! The ribbon is Offray, and the metal buttons are from Colorbok. All ink is Memento rich cocoa.

I played the last VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) on SCS. I was very fortunate to win a Scor-Pal, and subsequently purchased a scor-pad and a scor-bug from Gina K. I used the Scor-Pal to create the diamond embossed base layer. I used the scor-bug to emboss the bottom strip of chocolate cardstock.

I hope you have a great start to your week. Don't forget there are tons of challenges out there!

Ta for now, ~ky

Limelight Pairs! and Bling!

I don't know why, but I've been in a very patriotic mood lately. Maybe it has to do with the upcoming celebration (just a few weeks!), or the crappy things the government is doing, but hey - go with the feeling, right?

I made two cards for the Limelight Challenge (LLPC023). Yes, 2 cards at the same time! Very rare for me I know. I loved these DPs from Scenic Route, and I just received my Unity in America set by the very talented Tanis! This is a special offer that you can't get through the Unity website. You must get it through Memory Making Crafts and they have it on sale.

The LL 23 challenge required use of a sketch and bling. I'm still getting used to bling, but now I notice that I can spot a card in need! My bling includes metal stars from Colorbok, rhinestones from Michael's, iridescent ice embossing powder (with Versamark ink) from SU!, and Smooch! Love this stuff!

Besides the Unity stamp, I used a star from Gina K for the iridescent ice. The white stitched ribbon is from Gina K (Stamp TV kit), and the other is some miscellaneous ribbon I received in a swap. Finally, I used Gina K's red, white and blue brads.

I hope you've enjoyed these, and they help you reach that patriotic feeling!

Ta for now, ~ky

Nesties Storage!

Here's a quick post because I was asked how I store my Nestability dies. I leave them in their original folder (discard the packaging) with a strip of adhesive magnet on the inside. Then I just slip them in a page protector sleeve in my 3-ringed binder. I also have my cuttlebug folders in the page protectors in the binder too. Everything right at my fingertips!

Ta for now, ~ky

Hanging Out with Unity

This will be short and sweet because I need to head out of town. I made this card for THREE challenges. Talk about multiple birds and one stone...! This was used for the YSHLUA #5, Hip Hop piecing challenge, and the Stamp TV Sketch #16 challenge (make a round card).

The stamps are from Unity, I cut my circles with my CM cutting system, and I used Bazzill cs, SU! dp, Doodlebug jewels, Smooch, MM ribbon and charm, SU! button, Prima flower, Darice quilting pin and misc beads.

Thank you for stopping by - have a terrific weekend!

Ta for now, ~ky

Ahead of the Curve...Belli & CPS Challenges

For once I'm doing projects more than a week before I need them. Wow! Makes me wonder what I've forgotten to do. That's what 1 a.m. is for - panic!

I completed this first card (above) for the Belli Challenge on the Belli Blog! It's the Father's Day challenge #67. A sketch was provided, and it was a really fun one! I used an older SU! set (Thinking of Father, 2004), stamped in Memento tuxedo black, colored with Pentel metallic pencils and Pebbles chalks, with a touch of silver Creative Memories Precious Element ink.

Designer paper is SU! and cardstock is Bazzill. I used MM (white stitch) and American Crafts (for Pebbles) plaid ribbons. A boxer clip and Michael's rhinestones round out the decorations. I also used my scor-pal and score-bug for the embossing.

My friend Lee and I were discussing if ribbon and bling was appropriate on masculine cards. I dunno - I kinda like it. Do you??

This card just kinda came together from the left overs of the first one. I used the Card Patterns Sketch #119 for this layout. I followed a similar process with this card, except all the coloring in the panel was done with Pebbles chalks. I used the same SU! stamps, SU! designer paper, and Bazzill cardstock. The embellishments are Basic Grey buttons with SU! twine, Michael's rhinestones, MM ribbon, and Mark Ent. silver embossing powder. Ink is Memento tuxedo black and Versamark.

Well - I hope these projects encourage you to use bling and ribbon for your masculine cards. Even colors and patterns with a floral design can be tamed to a more manly look. Give it a try!

Ta for now, ~ky

Ink Sandwiches and Pulled Pastels...ready for summer?

The first project I want to share with you is a technique I developed because I can't work with my copics very well (so far). I found that using Memento on transparencies is not recommended unless you want a big mess. StazOn for transparencies! Live and learn!
The project above is the finished project. I will eventually get step by step pictures, but I wanted to let some of you in on the process as soon as I could get to it. My goal was to display the brilliant colors of Copics in a medium as close to pure color as I could get. The Unity fish stamp from Beach Days and Sun Rays seemed a good place to start.

I began by stamping the fish on the transparency, then colored the fishes. In the process, some of the image lines would disappear with the Copic ink. And the lines weren't as bold as I wanted. So, I began fiddling with a way to put a "cover" over the inks to keep them from being scratched away. What to do...

Looking through my stash, I found my vellum adhesive sheets from Glue Dots. Voila! I stamped with StazOn directly on the top of the adhesive sheet. I peeled away the backing, lined it up with my colored image, then adhered the two. I put a little more Copic coloring to brighten and give dimension to the fishes on the vellum adhesive sheet, then sandwiched the vellum and transparency sheaves between two designer papers. Now I can add embellishments to the card, and mail it without worrying if the careful Copic painting gets damaged. So...I will try to re-do the technique in another project. I will remember to stop and take step by step photos! I hope...meanwhile, here's another project:

The second project was my first attempt to pull pastels (as demonstrated by Gina K. on Stamp TV). You saw my gorgeous haul of chalks in the post below. I thought I would use an image that doesn't automatically make you think of our nation's independence. I dressed it in our traditional red-white-and-blue. I think it conveys what freedom should be for everyone. The freedom to come and go, or linger and enjoy like butterflies.

Well, sweeties - time's up for me right now. So I'll bid you adiue for now. Hope you have a stellar day!

Ta for now, ~ky

My BIG Day.....of shopping!

Ok - I AM NOT a shopaholic. I go into a store with my list, and I rarely stray. I'm not much of a compulsive buyer, either. However....those traits go right out the window when I step into a craft store. I will wander aimlessly. I will reach for every shiney thing.

I will fill whatever size basket the store uses.

I will buy anything on-sale.

I will gravitate to storage and organization products... get the picture?

Karl had to work yesterday in the city (85 miles away) so I went too. While he worked, I shopped. He gave me some birthday money...silly man. I spent it!

I introduced myself to JoAnn's. I had never been in this one before, and like others I had visited, it didn't have a lot of craft stuff. It was mostly sewing items. I did get an artbin to relocate my ribbon storage into. See - organizing stuff. I also hit Michaels, and Pebbles in My Pocket (a locally owned company in Utah and Las Vegas). I got lots of fun stuff that you will see here and there on future projects.

One thing that I was most excited about, were Pebbles in My Pocket crafting chalks. They come thirty in a tray, and I bought 6. Six sets. HALF-a-DOZEN! Do the math - 180 different chalks in three different applications. Three sets in pastel, brights and earth tone (regular chalk, sample below), two sets of glimmers, and one set of metallic creme chalks (sample 2 below). HAPPY DANCE!!!

However, I could not find the chalk enhancer fluid that Gina K uses is her Stamp TV tutorials. Drat. I talked to the store owner, and - get this - she had NEVER HEARD of Gina K!! I told her Gina was featuring her products in her tutorials....almost no response. I asked her if she carried chalk enhancer - never heard of it, what does it do? It turns chalks into watercolors that bind well to cardstock.

Regardless of her ignorance on this issue, I will still give you an enabling alert! These are HIGH quality chalks, with their own applicators. I've been playing with them a little and they are divine. Best of all? You can order online. Pebbles in My Pocket. They have a blog too, so check them out - maybe offer some education! Ask them to carry products. They do have really cute kits, too.

Ok...I'll stop gushing. Thanks for stopping by - I love to read your comments. I love to know you've been here!

Ta for now, ~ky

Hangover on Stamp TV!

Have you been wanting to learn new techniques? I have. I found a terrific place, too! Stamp TV! Yes. I know - it's been there for awhile now. But I just took the time to actually watch a few. They are very clear, and very professional. Try them out.... Go on.... They're free!!

My friend Lee hosted this challenge on Stamp TV. It was to use two or more images from different seasons. So, I started with winter (snowflake on the left), move through spring and summer in the middle, and then late summer early fall with the butterflies. The details are in my SCS gallery!

Enjoy your day! Ta for now... ~ky

Another BRIGHT Day!!

My good friend Lee Murphy just got a great boost - she was promoted to Gina K's Senior Design Team!! WOOOHOOO!!! Go Lee!

I can't help but be excited for such a talented gal, and an all-around sweetheart. Stop by Lee's blog and leave her some love. Gina generously gave her some candy to help her share her news.

I also happen to think the project Lee's sharing there is beyond awesome! Congrats Lee! Remember us "little people!"

Ta for now, ~ky