Time Passes

Wow - it's been 5 days since I've posted. You guys need to poke me or something! LOL

You all responded so pleasantly to my previous masculine card, that I decided to do another. This card uses Sizzix (Tim Holtz) texture fade, bird cage die (cage embossed with silver powder), and Spellbinder's die for the sentiment. Lots of Ranger distress ink, and a sentiment from Gina K Designs. There are 4 brads on this card, and three of them have a metal nail head on them. I added a drop of glossy accents on the bird for an eye.

This card just makes me happy. I created another that is very similar to this, so I won't show it. These are off to Operation Write Home next week!

Wishing you a happy, creative weekend!
♥ky

Another Ippity Hop!

I'm on a roll!! Yay me! Really, with surgery this week and no preparation, I didn't think I would have anything to show you today. Thank the Lord for His healing touch!

Mother's Day is about done for Operation Write Home, so I've started thinking about Father's Day. Fortunately, we have the BEST stamp set for Father's Day!

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I love old cars, especially for father's day. Who hasn't either been give a car, helped to find a car or instructed in how to care for a car by a dad? My father was very instructive, but he didn't know I'd been sneaking out for years to drive for my half-brother at dirt tracks! I still have fond memories of my first car, and those memories inevitably lead back to dad!

I hope everyone had a very good weekend and your week is smooth sailing. Don't forget to set a little time aside for you to do what you love! Next on the hop is ArtsyEm with Art from the Heart!

Hugs!
~ky

Supplies: Ippity Authentic Man stamp set
Bazzill cardstock
May Arts wide ribbon
Offray silver twine
Spellbinder's nestabilities dies

Home! And Resting

Surgery went well, and I'm home now. I thought you might find it silly, but the doctor thought I was coloring with crayons in my room at that hospital! We had a good laugh and a brief discussion about the healing power of art.

I have 4 weeks before I'm supposed to be up and around like I was before. What will you bet that I won't make it 4 weeks?? My legs already feel heavy, so we took a stroll around Walgreens when I picked up my medicines.

I guess I'll be entertaining you with more than my usual number of blog posts. Here's a card I made the night before surgery.

All lovely in green - Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you are enjoy a bit o' the Irish today. I'm Irish, so you know I am - no corned beef or green beer for me, but I am loving some Celtic music and dance.

This card is old Leisure Arts patterned paper. OOOOollllldddd hoard. Gina K Designs pure luxury cardstock in asparagus and soft sand. Did you hear? Gina is releasing a new cardstock color! Tonight! Over at StampTV! 7-9 p.m. Central US time - I hope you can join us!

So, I'm sending you sunshine from my recliner today. If it's not beautiful where you are, then create something beautiful!

Ta! ~ky

Other supplies: flower soft, cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities die, May Arts and Gina K ribbons, Neocolor II watersoluble wax pastels.

Ippity Butterfly Extravaganza!

My dear friend, Eva, got a brilliant idea to have a blog hop focused on butterflies - not on a company or a color palette, but a theme. I love theme hops! Eva - thank you so much for doing this!

So - if you've just stopped by because your one of my adoring fans (insert laugh track here) - you might want to go over to Eva's blog and hop through all the sites. There are chances to win some wonderful prizes (thank you to all who are providing these goodies!), and tons of inspiration!

You know I have a few weaknesses: Ippity and Sweet Pea Stamps, Spellbinder's dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders, lots of texture, steampunk anything, and coloring. Wow - I managed to get all of that into this one card:

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I adore this luna moth inspired stamp created by Brigid Ashwood. The sentiment is from ippity - Just Wanted to Say. I know you'll want more details so here's a close up.

I've colored the image with Prismacolor pencils blended with Odorless Mineral Spirits. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but all the gearing, support bars and pin-striping is done with metallics.

I was blessed in my career as a biologist to have some very special butterflies in my care. I got to spend days exploring their biology, and captured the first photograph of mating behavior for the Diana Fritillary butterfly. One of my favorite projects was crafting a neglected landscape into the perfect habitat for this creature, and the other butterflies, plants and animals that share that habitat. Warm fuzzies here.

Ok - you've got several places to hop along to, and I do hope these flighty creatures can brighten your day. Spring is coming!

Hop on over to Sylvia's blog for a *gorgeous* butterfly project! You'll love it!


If you're here for the {ippity} blog hop, head over to Carole's blog!

Cheers!
♥ky

More Cards!

Yes - the muse is rolling with the cards. Great for the soldiers, so I don't really mind at all. Besides, it's fun!

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I have this OCD thing - if I have to cut a base for a card, then I have a leftover base. My head can't let go of that orphaned base, so I'm compelled to complete the other card. Same thing with leftover pieces-parts. You would think I could just put them away for later, but no - they *must* be used right away! LOL What do you struggle with?

I also feel the need to stamp multiple images. This is Charlotte with a Rose, made by Sparkle Creations. I stamped 5 of her, then colored her with my Prismacolor pencils, and used odorless mineral spirits to blend and smooth. These two cards were created using Stamp TV's current sketch challenge.

I think Charlotte is beautiful. What soldier wouldn't love to send her to his mom or sweetheart back home? It's even good for the women soldiers - perfect for mom, or to send a piece of their heart home.

Ok - I'm off for now. I need to get things done so I can't hopefully get messy with paints today. I have awesome ideas for a new canvas and a couple of art journal pages.

Be creative!
♥ky

P.S. if you need specific information regarding any technique or supply used, leave a message and I will get back to you!

Oh Monday!

It's been quite a day - lab tests, blogs to read, the mess in the ArtLab to sort, and a Monday on top of it all. I've been making cards every day for many days now. I'm hoping this is a good trend, but soon I know my art journals are going to start screaming that they are being ignored. LOL

This is what I made today

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I still have this lovely May Arts ribbon in stock (in two colors) if you're interested. I used the OWH Stars and Stamps weekly sketch as a starting point. That's Gina K Designs pure luxury cardstock, Basic Grey patterned paper, Gina K's Lovely Labels stamp set that goes oh so beautifully with Nestabilities, Tim Holtz Sizzix texture fade, and the May Arts ribbon.

Now, I know you're dying to find out who won the drawing. It was Patricia Hays! Congratulations Patricia! You really need to visit her blog to see her beautiful creations!!

Tuesday's on it's way, and it comes with a long list of things to be done, so I'm off. Thank you all so much for playing along for the soldiers' sake, and for visiting my blog.

♥ky

H{ippity} Hopping again!

Hello dear friends! It has been quite awhile since I joined you on the hop. I'm so thrilled to be seeing my friends and meeting new {ippity} fans! You should be hopping here from Mary's blog.

There's a new twist in the Unity forum - a weekly growing twisted challenge in {ippity}!

This looks so cool - it's a building challenge! Love it - {ippity} chicks come up with the greatest ideas! So - you're here for the hop, and to see what I got:

I used the Regal Greetings set (yes, it's an older one, but a classic) to make this card for a soldier. You all know I make cards for Operation Write Home, right? In fact, I have a challenge that you can play along with if you link me to two new cards that you will be sending to OWH for the soldiers to use. Details are in the post below (just click here).

I try to stay clean and simple, yet elegant for our soldiers. They deserve the best, and many of these cards will become treasured keepsakes. Won't you help?

I'm so glad you stopped by today to see what I've been up to. It's so good to hop among friends! Next, hop on over to the lovely and ever-talented JenMarie!

Cheers! ~ky♥

I got the Bunny!

No - I do - the real one!! So I didn't make a bunny card for the hop.

(this is MacMiller, my rescue, getting caught using the Vagabond. Oh my!)

I'm so glad you are here! You should be coming here from Jennifer's blog, The Sparkle Within. Are you lost? Just dropped by? We're having a wonderful hop for Operation Write Home, a non-profit group that sends homemade cards to soldiers so they can use them to write home. Want to start at the beginning? Click here, or on the icon up to the left! You don't want to miss out - tons of eye candy, some blog candy, challenges, tutorials - get inspired!

I have a little challenge for you. If you create 2 new cards for soldiers - that's all, just 2 - and put them on the internet (your blog, Facebook, Flickr, wherever there's public access) then link them back here, you can be entered in a drawing for this prize package. You'll have until 10 p.m. CST, Monday, March 7th to post a link to your work, here, to be eligible for the drawing.

(Play along and you could win this!)

Here is my little bit of inspiration for you:

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This is a clean and simple (CAS) card design set with hand watercolored flowers, embossed nestabilities dies, and extra pages on the inside for sending thoughts toward home. Some have sentiments, some don't, but they are all spring themed. I used Gina K Designs paper and stamp sets for these cards. Please read the OWH blog for guidelines for sending multiples of a design.

The deadline for you to get your Easter cards to our shippers is March 18th! 

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I made all three of these cards using a Gina K Designs stamp set, and of course, her Pure Luxury cardstock. I embossed the images in gold, and colored them using Neocolor II watersoluble wax pastels. Please read the OWH blog for guidelines for sending multiples of a design. These cards say All My Love, and are perfect for Mother's day and more.

The deadline for you to get your Mother's Day cards to OWH for shipment is March 31st.

I love browsing through the Operation Write Home website. There's so much information there, and it's very easy to come away inspired. My favorite post, hands down, is the description of the average soldier making use of our cards. Check it out (bookmark it for later!) then head over to:

Samantha at Expressions of a Craftaholic

Thanks for hopping along with us!! ~ky

More is More!

First let me say that I lost one of my most favorite cousins to cancer this morning. She was a very strong lady, and I am so sad to know she's gone. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my family's safe travel to western Texas for the funeral. Thank you!

Many of you know that I make cards for soldiers. We have a blog hop coming up to celebrate and highlight this cause, so I'd love it if you could come back to visit on Saturday March 5th to enjoy that. I will have links to the beginning of the hop to make it easy for you to start at the beginning. Here are some of the new things I've been making:

I love Gina K's stamp sets (Spring Mix, here). They coordinate with other products so well - like these Cuttlebug embossing folders, and the Spellbinder's nestabilities dies. Basic Grey papers work beautifully with Gina K Design's Pure Luxury cardstock, which is so yummy to use with either Prismacolor pencils or Copic markers. I just love how quickly they come together, too.

Thanks, once again, for stopping by my blog. Be sure to visit again on Saturday, because I will have a challenge with a prize for you! I hope happiness is in your path today.

Hugs!
~ky