Happy Halloween

This fun little pumpkin was taken right from the SU Demonstrator site - great reason to become a demonstrator! Beside a discount and other special priviledges, great project ideas, too. If you are interested, feel free to contact me, love to have you aboard :) Now for our pumpkin...Take 2 sheets of the 'orange' of your choice and decorate. I used Tangerine Tango cardstock and inked up my Jumbo So Swirly wheel in Pumpkin Pie and wheeled across my paper. Cut 1"x11" strips (I used a total of 14 - more strips will kreate less space b/w each strip). Punch hole through bottom and top of strips, using Crop-a-Dile to punch through all layers would be easiest. Knot a piece of Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain (approx 6") and thread through holes; knot top of ribbon and then spread your strips apart to kreate this adorable pumpkin. Embellish as you wish! I used glue dots to adhere an Old Olive bow to the top and added two leaves stamped in Old Olive on Old Olive and used paper snips to cut them out and then place them next to the ribbon. Would be cute little center pieces in different sizes for Thanksgiving too or make them a bit smaller and add some name tags for place settings! So Fun!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Enjoy your day :)

A Bella Birthday

Don't forget, Friday is your last day to order these great birthday sets for 20% off (you qualify after placing a $20 order). Don't miss it!

Quick post, sorry, I've got to finish up my Dorothy and Toto before Friday!! My niece and sister-in-law are coming to visit this weekend, so we can stamp out some birthday invites and kreate a few other fun things for her friends. So fun, can't wait!! So I've been playing with my new set Crazy for Cupcakes and better late than never, I used last weeks Splitcoast Stampers (SCS199) sketch to kreate my card and then kreated a coordinating little bag. Cute right! Perfect for some little favors. What do you think? If you'd like more info on the bag/favor, leave me a comment and let me know!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes
Paper: Bella Rose Designer Paper, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pretty in Pink, Choc Chip
Accessories: dimensionals, Pretty in Pink Grosgrain, Red Riding Hood Striped Grosgrain, Scallop Edge Punch, Sponges, Crystal Effects, glitter, liquid applique

Here is the sketch if you're up for the challenge

For now, go kreate
Kim

Facelift

Well, it was high time I gave my blog a little facelift! But I'm not sure its lifted enough - love the polka dots and colors, but not sure of the dark brown where all the text is written. And unfortunately that brown is not an option I can play with :( Please forgive my butterflies - I've tried EVERYTHING to get them to fly over to the left in that empty space and they just want to hover around my title! I will continue to try my best to move them, if anyone has any insight I'd love your input- computer wiz I am NOT!!! I may just leave this to the professionals!! So please let me know what you think.

Onto why you stopped by (and I'm so glad you did), the next kreation. This card was my bonus card at my Stamp a Stack. I love this new set, A Cardinal Christmas (Holiday Mini)and I loved the Stained Glass tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers. I stamped my image in VersaMark onto Vellum Paper and then heat embossed with Black EP. Then I used my SU Markers on the back of the vellum to color in my image. Turn your image back to the embossed side and you have the 'appearance' of stained glass. Such a pretty look. I applied alittle vellum transparent adhesive to a piece of Very Vanilla and adhered down the vellum cardinal. TIP: Make sure to apply vellum adhesive to your cardstock, NOT the vellum or it will show on your vellum. The piece of Very Vanilla was given a decorative edge with the Scallop Edge punch. A small piece of Riding Hood Red Striped Ribbon peeks out behind the image. The branches were inked in Old Olive and stamped onto Old Olive Paper and then used Paper Snips (excellent scissors to cut detailed images) to cut them out. Added a bit of glitter (photo never looks quite as good as the card - sorry for the bluish look of the glitter - its just enough sparkle in person) to the leaves and a few festive berries. Placed dimensionals behind them to 'frame' my cardinal. The sentiment, from Heard from the Heart was inked in VersaMark onto my Riding Hood Red base and then heat embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.
I'm hoping you will leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of my new look and of course what you think of my Stained Glass cardinal.

For now, go kreate
Kim

Check Out the Queen of Stampin' Up!

Shelli Gardner is the CEO of Stampin' Up! and I just had to share this little video with you. Make sure to check it out and see how to make some amazingly cute festive decorations for your Holiday table. Napkin Rings, Name Plates, Favors, Confetti... go take a peek AND there is even a supply list and simple instructions. Here's the link: http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=61&sid=4573672. If link doesn't launch automatically, copy and paste it into your browser. (There is about a 10 sec blurb, before the actual video of Shelli begins - so don't think you got the wrong link!)
Enjoy the show :) And let me know what you think!

For now, go kreate ( watch the video first :) )
Kim

Christmas Stamp a Stack

In preparation for my Christmas Stamp a Stack I made about a dozen different Christmas cards. After trying to narrow it down, I realized most were too involved for a SAS and most of my stampers are fairly new (but boy did they do great that night), - so I had to do things a bit simpler. Sometimes I have a hard time with simple... Am I the only one? I wanted to use the Snow Swirled set as some of my ladies had already purchased this set - I found this card on Splitcoast Stampers and thought it would be great for our 1st card. So this is my take on the card.Changed the colors slightly, used Silver Cord (from Holiday Mini)instead of paper piercing, changed the sentiment, and added a little festive sparkle to my snowflake and sentiment. Brilliant Blue base, with Brilliant Blue and Bashful Blue ornaments, snowflakes stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with White Embossing Powder and Iridescent Ice. The center ornament was punched out using the 1-3/8 Circle punch and the other snowflakes punched in 1-1/4 Circle punch and layered on the 1-3/8 circle. The sentiment was stamped with Brocade Blue and embossed with Iridescent Ice again - I like Christmas cards with a bit of sparkle (unfortunately you can't see the sparkle in this card, but its so pretty). TIP: Remember when embossing you will need to use either Craft Ink or VersaMark so your powder will stick to your image before heating.
Two of my ladies decided they wanted the more traditional Christmas colors, so we used Ruby Red and Mellow Moss - looked great and I could kick myself for not taking a photo to show you.
Isn't this a cute card? Even though I have a dozen of my own Christmas kreations, I'm so glad I found this one to CASE (Copy and Share with Everyone). At least I have some pretty Christmas samples to show you over the next few months. And can you believe I still haven't decided which one I will use! LOL Maybe this year everyone will get a little something different... we'll see.
For now, go kreate,
Kim

Birthday Treat

Happy Birthday to all you October babies... if you haven't seen the Stampin' Up!'s 20th Birthday promotion, make sure to check it out. You only have one week left to place your orders for these great birthday sets at 20% off. Go ahead, make it easy and SHOP ONLINE with me.
This little project uses this yummy cupcake from the Crazy for Cupcakes set. Wouldn't this be a great favor for a party? The acrylic box use to hold some ponytail holders for my girls (Thanks Lisa), but I thought it would be great to house some Smarties Candies - they fit just perfect!! My cupcake was stamped on Whisper White with Basic Black ink and then I used Pixie Pink and Baja Breeze ink and Blender Pens to make this cupcake scrumptious ~ with a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds, Crystal Effects and liquid applique to decorate the top. I used my Coluzzle template to cut out a Pretty in Pink circle to layer under my cupcake. The Word Window punch highlights my Clear Embossed Pink Passion sentiment. I tied the Baja Breeze around the 'box' and used some Silver Cord (from the Holiday Mini) to hang my 'tag'. A sweet little treat! Hope you like it!

For now, go kreate
Kim

Card Folder

I had made these great little card holders to send to my virtual friend Kris, from Kween Bee Kreations and her mom who is battling cancer.
If you'd like to send an inspirational (no get wells please)card to her, you can mail them directly to Kris - she will so appreciate it.
Karol c/o
Kris Kilcoyne
5216 Paulson Road
McFarland, WI 53558
I was so happy that this was an inspiration to Kris and you can see her kreation if you pop over to her blog. The stamp set used is Inspired by Nature and I used daubers to ink up my stamp. You will see when you open up the folder there are additional notecards and envelops that coordinate with the outside and nicely fit into the little 'sleeves'. Fun and easy little project or gift idea. I can't let you in on the secret of how to make them quite yet, but if you live in the Bergen County New Jersey area and would like to come to my November 17th class, we will be making these as well as some tile coasters! I'd love to have you join us! We have tons of fun :)

For now, go kreate

Kim

Quick Note

Phewwwww, I feel like I just ran a marathon! My Stamp a Stackers were here for 4 hours and I don't think I sat once - so much fun though! We did 4 different Christmas designs and I think all their kreations came out great!! I'm a bit bushed so I will be back later to post a card for you. Don't forget, if you want updates on my posts, go ahead and subscribe (on the right sidebar) and you won't miss a beat :) Until later....

Urban Organizer

If you visit my blog often, you may remember the card to the right using Urban Garden Designer Paper (DP) and Pocket Silhouettes set. Well, I made a matching organizer and I plan to fill it with a few more cards using the same coordinating papers - great gift idea! You can see my previous organizer and a link to a great tutorial here. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Gotta run I have my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack tonight and have a few more things to prepare.

For now, go kreate
Kim

A Cardinal Christmas

My hubby teases me that I'm having an affair with my UPS man, but its really just an affair with the new SU goodies he brings :) Who doesn't love new goodies?!! So I just received this beautiful set, A Cardinal Christmas, from the Holiday Mini and I had to play with it right away! I stamped my cardinal on Whisper White in Basic Black and then used Ruby Red and Riding Hood Red with my Blender Pens to color his body. He is perched on a Close to Cocoa branch with Certainly Celery and Mellow Moss leaves. Then I took my Aquapainter (which by the way is on sale this month for $7 for 1 lrg tip brush) and dipped it in a pool of Baja Breeze ink and lightly went over my background to kreate a sky effect. TIP: If not using watercolor paper, you want to use very little water to avoid your paper becoming too saturated and curling. I mentioned 'pool of ink'... take your closed SU pad, squeeze it together and when you open it you will have a little pool of ink in the cover to use with your Aquapainter or Blender Pens. Used the Only Orange Marker to highlight his beak and feet. Placed this on a piece of Riding Hood Red and decorated the bottom with the Scallop Edge Punch and layered it on a Baja Breeze base. The leaves from this set were stamped in Mellow Moss and carefully snipped out. Adhered three 'berries' from Button Bouquet with Mini Glue dots and inked my sentiment with Ruby Red Craft ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. I happen to love how it turned out, but I'm thinking its alittle too involved to mass produce :( I'll find my Christmas card yet - at least its fun to keep trying! Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think - love it when you do!

For now, go kreate
Kim

Bella for Breast Cancer

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness and Splitcoast Stampers Color Challenge (CC188) is a tribute. The two cards are done with Pretty in Pink, Basic Black and Whisper White. I stamped my adorable little Bella, from Hostess lev 3 set Window Dressing, in Basic Black ink, punched her out with the 1" Circle Punch and then colored her in with Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink and Basic Black SU Markers. I then layered her on a 1-1/4" Circle of Pretty in Pink or Basic Black and the reverse color for the next Scallop Punch layer. The polka dot paper is from a retired hostess designer paper pack. The card on the left has a decorative edge achieved with the must have tool, the Scallop Edge Punch. The sentiment is from the Window Dressing set as well and is heat embossed with Black Embossing Powder. Finished it off with 2 Black Gingham Ribbons. The card on the right is also for this weeks SCS Challenges, the sketch challenge (SC198). The same ingredients were used as in the first card, except my sentiment is a rub-on from the Take Notes Rub-Ons and of course I've changed the layout. You can see the sketch below if you'd like to give it a try.
The little 'purse' was kreated with Pink Pirouette and my adorable Bella again. You can view a tutorial here for the little purse. So if you'd like the challenge, heres your sketch, grab your pink, black and white and get kreating!!

For now, go kreate
Kim

Holiday Wreath

It happened by chance, but look what I made. Fun little wreath! I had cut out this Kiwi Kiss circle using my Coluzzle, for another idea that didn't pan out, added the scallops with my Corner Rounder and thought this kinda would look like a wreath if I repeated a circle and scallops in the middle. So thats what I got, a wreath. I inked up the little vine from the Fresh Cuts set in Old Olive and stamped it around the 'wreath'. Added a festive Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain bow with a Filigree Brad in the center and popped it up on dimensionals on a Ruby Red base. Stamped my sentiment from Holidays & Wishes in VersaMark and then embossed with Silver EP. It was missing alittle something, so I added some flourishes from the Priceless set around the sentiment and embossed them with silver as well. I'm my worst critic, not my most favorite card, its ok, but I do like the wreath. What do you think?

For now, go kreate
Kim

Autumn Harvest

I got my inspiration from this past weeks sketch challenge, not exactly the same as the sketch, but it was the start to my inspiration as was this card by Lynn from The Queens Scene. The base of this card is Creamy Caramel. My images from the Autumn Harvest set were inked in Real Red, Really Rust, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Choc Chip, and Pumpkin Pie and stamped across my panel of Apricot Appeal squares. I layered the squares on Pumpkin Pie and gave it a decorative edge using my Scallop Edge Punch. Added a Choc Chip Grosgrain Ribbon across the bottom of the squares as not to hide the pretty scalloped edge :) Snipped out a More Mustard leaf to embellish and add alittle dimension to the card and placed it over the ribbon. The sentiment from Holidays & Wishes was stamped in Choc Chip. Hope you like it! Please let me know by leaving me a comment - love it when you do! Here is the sketch if you'd like to give it a try.

For now, go kreate
Kim

Snow Swirled Ruby and Olive

The Snow Swirled set always makes me think 'sparkle'. Must be the snow flakes. You can see my previous sparkly card with this set here. I went with the more traditional green and red Christmas colors (from the Earth Elements color family) for this kreation. The Ruby Red base was randomly stamped with the smallest snowflake using VersaMark and then heat embossed with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. A thin strip of Holiday Treasures DSP with the little snowflakes was placed under my main image. This gorgeous Snow Swirled tree was inked in Garden Green Craft ink and stamped onto Old Olive. TIP: When embossing, remember the only ink that will allow your powder to stick is VersaMark or Craft Ink. My tree was again heat embossed with some more sparkle with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. The edges of the Old Olive were sponged with Garden Green Craft ink and embossed with Iridescent Ice. I love the way it framed and accented my tree even more. Snazzy, right?! The tree was then layered with dimensionals on Ruby Red and one more piece of Old Olive slightly offset. The sentiment at the bottom from Warm Words, was given the same sparkle treatment with VersaMark and Embossing Powder. This photo doesn't quite do this card justice - it is such a pretty and sparkly card in person. I find these cards are the most difficult to show you - they end up looking so blahhhhh in the photo. Well, you are just going to have to go make one yourself to see how pretty it is :) Let me know if any of you have any great photo tips for the sparkly cards. It may be time to get a photo tent :)

For now, go kreate
Kim

Little Bundle

I love this Hostess set (lev 2), Serene Spring. When I saw that little bunny peering out of the basket, I just had to have it. So I finally got around to introducing it to some ink :) I inked in Basic Brown and stamped onto Whisper White. TIP: In order to do any type of watercoloring you want to make sure you stamp your image in a waterproof ink to avoid your image bleeding. SU has 3 colors to chose from: Basic Black, Basic Brown, and Basic Gray. So after stamping my image, I took my Blender Pen to various inks and colored in my image to give it that watercolor effect. TIP: Squeeze a closed SU ink pad together and when you open the lid, there will be a pool of ink in the lid ~ dab your Aquapainter or Blender Pen in that ink and you can begin to color. Pretty neat, huh!? My Little Bundle of Joy sentiment came from another Hostess set (lev 1) , Punches Three. Inked in Close to Cocoa first and then again in Pretty in Pink. Used my paper snips to cut out the middle sentiment, added some brads and layered that with dimensionals on the top of the Close to Cocoa piece. Don't have the new Large Oval punch, yet :) , but easy enough to snip this out as well. If you read my post yesterday, I gave you a tip on using VersaMarker and Embossing Powder, well, once again I was able to use this technique. Hard to see in the picture, but the little carriage in the sentiment was embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. Love it! Placed my oval on Choc Chip Grosgrain Ribbon and this baby is ready to be delivered :)

If you'd like to get these adorable Hostess sets, well, save your pennies and treat yourself to lots of fun loot, OR get some friends together and host a party at your home OR get some orders together and reap the benefits of a party without the actual party. Free stamp sets and free merchandise start with a minimum $150 product purchase. If you live in my area, I would be glad to come and party with you :) If you're not in my area, we can still party - contact me and I'll tell you how!

For now, go kreate
Kim

No Frills

Not a whole lot of planning or anything for this card, hence my title. I wanted to keep it quite simple, no layers or embellishments, and I think it turned out ok. Makes me think of a crisp fall day. The base of the card is Apricot Appeal and is stamped with the Autumn Harvest set. Pumpkins were inked in Pumpkin Pie and Glorious Green and the lone gourd inked in Summer Sun and kissed slightly with Pumpkin Pie. The leaves were stamped with the same inks and then added Riding Hood Red. The sentiment from Holidays & Wishes was also stamped in Pumpkin Pie. All inks, with the exception of Riding Hood Red, were craft ink so that I could heat emboss each image with Clear Embossing Powder. Using Craft ink or VersaMark is the only way your embossing powder will stick to your image. My little hint, on the Riding Hood Red, I traced over the image with my VersaMarker and quickly covered it with clear embossing powder - the marker dries much quicker than your Craft ink or VersaMark ink, but it can be done!! Unfortunately you can't really see the embossing, but it really does make the card pop in person. Just stamps, ink and clear embossing powder - no frills! Definitely under 15 minutes to kreate! Let me know what you think?

For now, go kreate
Kim

Too Cute to Spook

Ut Oh! Computer glitch! I was away and came home today to see that I forgot to pre-post to you all. Sorry!! I was sad that I didn't get to spend World Card Making Day (10/4) a full day event in my stamping room, but my hubby and I and the kids got to have a VERY fun weekend visiting my brother and going apple picking, pumpkin picking, a horse drawn carriage ride - a fun filled weekend. So back to stamping - this is what you should have seen on Friday. A few more Halloween treats to show you all. I'm not much for Halloween (I could actually do without), but I've seen many a cute Frankies, many varieties of cutsy spiders and a few mummys - nothing too spooky (and I think I've seen each in an array of kreations from boxes, cards, bags, treat covers, to pencil toppers and notebook covers - so have fun) :) I just had to make these little goodies for someone(s) special :) So here are my too cute to spook treats. Frankie card is made with circle punches (except his hair is hand snipped for his bangs and his scars are drawn on his face). Spiders are kreated with the Scallop Punch and Oval Punch- (and have a yummy peppermint patty inside). My yummy mummy pull treat is kreated by tearing paper and sponging the edges and randomly placing the paper at different angles to kreate a cloth like wrapping. Told ya, too cute to spook!!

OK, so even though I missed World Card Making Day on Saturday, you all have this week, until Oct 11th to enjoy the World Card Making Promotion and of course to stamp your hearts out and send that special someone a handmade card!! Make sure to check the promotion and if you'd like to place an order, you can contact me or shop online at any time - click on the Shop Online Icon in the upper right of my blog.

For now, go kreate
Kim

Sour Cream Containers

This is the final project from my Sweet Treats class. I had kreated these Sour Cream Containers before, you can see them here, but for my class we used Ghostly Greetings DSP (some of the ladies who are class moms are using these for the Halloween party in their child's class - fun, fun, fun!!) The one in the middle was my sample using the retired Jersey shore paper. You can follow this tutorial, change the DSP and make a favor for any occasion . All I added to my containers, beside the yummy M&M's inside (seems appropriate for the paper we used, don't ya think? - you can click on the picture to enlarge and you may be able to see along the grayish line the words YUM YUM YUM...) my little gogglie eyed Halloween friends from the Batty for You set - punched out with 1-1/4" circle punch and then mounted on a 1-3/8" circle. Have fun with these, they are so simple to make and oh so cute!!

For now, go kreate
Kim

Make sure to check my post below for the new Holiday Mini and purchasing gift certificates from me :)

The Holiday Mini Catalog & Gift Certificates Available

Today is the day - yippeeeeee - you may begin ordering from this fabulous little Holiday book!! You have from now until January 18th to stock up on some of these adorable products. The stamps sets are so fun, but wait until you see all the other fun stuff: the ribbons, the felt snow flurries, the holiday rub-ons, the new pattern papers, the new BIG SHOT machine and all different die cuts, there is so much - this little book is packed with a punch!
For you that want it all, start a wish list and send it to me via email and I will keep it on file, then send all your loved ones my contact info and let them know I have some great ideas that YOU are sure to love for the holiday or any other occasion. One stop shopping with me! I will gladly send out adorable gift certificates; imagine a gift certificate inside apull treat, that is hand stamped and customized per your occasion. OR with a predetermined amount and your wish list I can make it easy for your spouse or anyone else who has the hardest time deciding what to get you. I'll have your wishes granted :)
I'm utilizing my own services ... my wish list is ready for my hubby :)
I'll be back a bit later with the final sweet treat project from my class. Now go start your WISH LIST!!!!!!

Kim