a holiday hello with Avocado Arts

A little playing around with patterned paper and Avocado Arts latest stamp set, Bring on the Holiday Cheer! I stamped the half looking tree image several times onto patterned paper, cut them out, and layered them over the label on the patterned paper. Then I stamped the sentiment on the space left on the label. Easy, mailable holiday card.

Be sure and check out the rest of the team:

Avocado Arts Blog
AJ Otto
Latisha Yoast
Julia Stainton
Becky Oehlers

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Stamps-Avocado Arts (Bring on the Holiday Cheer!), Patterned paper-My Mind’s Eye (Lost and Found 2-Rosy), Ink-Palette (Noir, Giverny Green), Ribbon-Creative Impresions

Snow Globe with Avocado Arts

I am super excited to share this Avocado Arts snow globe with you today! I used the November kit, Bring on the Holiday Cheer! This snow globe is very easy to create and I think would be SUCH a fun project to make with your children over the holidays.

I started off by stamping the tree image several times onto green cardstock. I over-stamped the trees with the tinsel-looking image, also in green ink. The tree images were cut out and scored in half. Gluing each tree side back–to-back, I was able to make a dimensional tree. The tree was glued to the base of the snow globe.

Then I stamped the cardinal, banner, and peace sentiment. They look so cute all nestled inside the tree, don’t they? :)

Using ink formulated for shiny surfaces, I stamped the small snowflake from Ho Ho’s and Holiday Blessings. To make it easier, I put one hand inside the globe and stabilized it while I stamped with the other. This needed some lengthy drying time.

Once everything was dry, I poured some of this cello glitter into the edge of the globe. Then I pushed the base inside and screwed the bottom into place. The snow globe is from Michael’s. It contains directions on how to turn it into a real, liquid-filled globe. If you are going to buy one and do that, be sure and pop out the directions because there is a great supply list included.

Be sure and stop by the rest of the team to be inspired!

Avocado Arts Blog
AJ Otto
Latisha Yoast
Julia Stainton
Becky Oehlers

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Stamps-Avocado Arts (Bring on the Holiday Cheer!, Ho Ho’s and Holiday Blessings, Avocado Type), Snow Globe, Glitter-Michael’s, Ink-Memento, Palette, Copics (R22, R24, R27)

photos on Friday

My dad and the little man had fun digging up the last of the carrots when we were up in MN last weekend. And I had fun taking photos of it all. :)
I am off to spend the day shopping in Chicago with a friend tomorrow. We are looking forward to checking out all the stores we won’t take our children into! :) Have a wonderful weekend!
thanks for stopping by!
~kimberly

coffee cozies

These were a fun project created for Spellbinders Paper Arts for the last CHA show. I used pre-made coffee cozies that I found at Michael’s. They came stitched and closed with Velcro. (Check out the t-shirt/canvas bag aisle.)

To start with, I die cut canvas from Canvas Corp using E8-001 Classic Scallop Edgeabilities. And attached a piece on the top and bottom of each cozie. This was done with fabric glue. Then I die cut several sets of flowers from LF-005 Grand Peony. Using Ranger paint, I stamped Unity images onto each flower part. The leaves were die cut and totally painted with green. Once everything was layered together, I added a twine-tied button. (of course I did, there is always twine and a button!)

And I wanted to mention that Spellbinders Paper Arts is having their annual design team try out contest. I don’t think I need to mention what a great company they are to work for and the product, well, it doesn’t get much better than die templates!!! For all the details, and I wish you the best of luck, see the Spellbinders blog.

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Spellbinders-LF-005 Grand Peony Creations, E8-001 Classic Scallop, Canvas-Canvas Corp, Stamps-Unity (Love Always), Paint-Ranger, Twine-May Arts, Cozies-Michael’s

wishing you

Today I am excited to show you a new product, well, old product, re-done for paper crafting. It is SO MUCH FUN! Remember those honeycomb bells and other things used to decorate for parties? Inky Antics is now selling sheets of it for making cards! Its brilliant! They even have stamps to let you create scenes using their product, Honey Pop.

Check out the inside of this card!! How fun is that? I hand cut the Honey Pop with scissors. I tried the Grand Calibur and die templates, but it was just too thick. Imagine the possibilities!

Here is a closer look at the Honey Pop. The card gets thicker, but not so much that you couldn’t mail it easily. Looks like its time to have fun decorating the *inside* of our cards for a change! :)

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Honey Pop-Inky Antics, Patterned paper-Jillibean Soup, Stickers-Jillibean Soup, Stamps-Unity Stamp Co., Spellbinders-Foliage, Classic Scallop Edgeabilities

photos on Friday

Happy Friday! Well, as usual, its been a mad house around here! We spent a long 5-day weekend in MN with our families. We had a wonderful visit, including a stay at the waterpark. I am doing testing at school this week with Kindergarten and 1st graders, and Thursday was America Reads! day at school, and I was one of the coordinators. Its great to be involved in school again and put that teaching degree back to use. Not to mention how great it is to see what goes on at the little man’s school and participate in his new world.

Enjoy your weekend! thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Unity Stamp Company and Spellbinders Blog Hop

Welcome to our TWO-day event!

You should be joining me from Stephanie Muzzulin’s blog, if not then head to the beginning on the Unity Stamp Co. Blog.

With all the blog-swaps that are happening out there lately, I can't think of one more exciting than when the amazing women of SPELLBINDERS™ get together with the rock stars of UNITY STAMP COMPANY!

We can't wait to show you a special line of coordinating products featuring SPELLBINDERS dies and SAMANTHA WALKER for Unity Stamp Co. rubber stamps!
Not only are we thrilled to be collaborating on such a special 2-day event, but ONE of you will win ALL of the coordinating stamps and dies from the Samantha Walker collection! We will also have 1 winner each day from the comments that will receive 1 Samantha Walker stamp set and coordinating dies.
So be sure to enjoy our hop both days, leave comments on all of the blogs each day and check back to see if you won!

(winners will be posted on Wednesday, October 19^th on the Unity Blog and Spellbinders Blog)

My little stinker. He makes me smile and lights up my whole world.

The Samantha Walker Spellbinder die templates and Unity Stamp Company stamps coordinate beautifully! For the large journaling flower, I stamped the flower “petals” first. Then I used a small piece of tape to hold the die template in place, perfectly over the stamped image. The open inside of Spellbinders die templates make this so easy to accomplish!

The smaller orange flower was simply die cut/embossed and then I used an orange ink pad and inked through the die template. Another brilliant feature of Spellbinders products!

These leaves were stamped onto green cardstock, once again placement die cut/embossed with a small piece of tape, and finally inked through to bring out even more detail.

And you know I have a thing for stamping on buttons lately, so I couldn’t resist stamping a few wood buttons with more of these fantastic Unity Stamp Company images!

Now please head over to Jessica Diedrich’s blog!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Spellbinders-S5-072 Blossom Tags and Accents, LF-133 Grand Scalloped Rectangles, Stamps-Unity Stamp Company-Blossom Stackers from Samantha Walker, Patterned paper-Jillibean Soup (Apple Cheddar Soup; Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Milk) (Soup Staples; Orange), Twine Button-Jillibean Soup (Bean Blossoms; Red), Ink-Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk; Roussillon, Dark Moss, Warm Red), Ranger (Distress Ink; Frayed Burlap, Walnut), Stewart Superior (Palette-Reflection Blue), Buttons-LA Fashion District, Twine-May Arts,

tis the season with Avocado Arts

Hello and welcome to another day of Avocado Arts projects! Today I am using the October kit, Ho Ho’s and Holiday Blessings. This card is the epitome of clean and simple! We all know how crazy the holidays get. If we are going to make cards, let’s make them easy, quick to produce, and easy to mail. This one fits all those requirements!!

The card base is 4.25 x 4.25.” The bottom corners were rounded. I stamped the sentiment in black ink. The Santa hat was stamped onto a separate piece of cardstock, cut out, and foam mounted. BUT, if you wanted, you could stamp the hat directly above the sentiment and color it there. And some Liquid Applique or Fun Flock would be cute on the fluffy white parts of the hat.

Here is a sneak peek of my project using the November kit, Bring on the Holiday Cheer. I CANNOT wait to share this with you! So fun and really easy!! Might be a great project to make when the kiddos are home for holiday breaks! :)

Be sure and stop by the rest of the team to be inspired!

Avocado Arts Blog
AJ Otto
Latisha Yoast
Julia Stainton
Becky Oehlers

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Stamps-Avocado Arts (Ho Ho’s and Holiday Blessings), Cardstock-Neenah (Solar White), Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copics-R22, R24, R27

photos on Friday

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
-Samuel Smiles

have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Swimming for Katie Renz

From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.

This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted. Information central is HERE. This is a permanent page that will stay active at i {heart} papers with current information and the full 3 day blog hop listing, as well as the donation button.

Here are all the items available for sale. Please click to see your choices.

Here is my project for the day.

AND THIS JUST ADDED:

To help raise money for Katie, Creating for Causes has generously donated a FREE ticket (value: $249.95) to one of their upcoming 3-day Scrap & Stamp Retreats.

The winner of the free ticket will enjoy 3 days of non-stop fun and creativity with fellow scrappers, stampers and paper crafters, and can choose between the Charlotte, NC Scrap & Stamp Ritzy Retreat at The Ritz-Carlton on October 21-23 or the Orlando, FL Scrap & Stamp Retreat at the Marriott World Center on November 4-6. Both retreats promise to spoil you and provide 48-straight hours of creating, camaraderie and fun!

To learn more about the events, please visit: http://www.creatingforcauses.org/our-events/scrapbook-events/.

Not only will you be raising money for Katie by making a donation, you get a chance to win a wonderful weekend getaway for yourself! And, because all of Creating for Causes' events are charity events that raise money for local charities, you'll be giving back twice!

Wow, a weekend retreat for you and two chances to help others. Does it get any better than that?

Here's how it works:

Simply make a $33 donation (or more) for Katie and indicate that you want to be entered in the Creating for Causes Retreat ticket drawing. Everyone who makes a qualifying donation will be entered into the drawing and one lucky person will be attending this 3-day retreat for FREE! That lucky person could just be you! (If you have already donated and wish to be included, just email kate(at) iheartpapers (dot) com)

DEADLINE TO ENTER FOR THIS GIVEAWAY IS FRIDAY 9PM EST, although other donations will be accepted for weeks to come.

I hope you will join me in supporting Katie through a purchase or donation. The following is a list of everyone who has projects posted today. I hope you will be inspired by them and moved to purchase or donate.

Amy Heller
Jackie Pedro
Julie Masse
Kecia Waters
Sandie Dunne
Susan Liles
Latisha Yoast
Laurie Schmidlin
Lisa Arana
Lisa Henke
Lisa Silver
Lydia Fiedler
Lyn Bernatovich
Lynette
Maria Gurnsey
Meg Craig
Melissa Bickford
Michelle Woerner
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Robyn Weatherspoon
Sarah Jay
Sarah Martina Parker
Savannah O'Gwynn
Stephanie Washburn
Susanna Boyd
Tobi Crawford
Julie Lacey
Kim Kesti
Shemaine Smith
Danielle Lounds
Debbie Carriere
DoBea A.
Fran Gumprecht
Geny Cassady
Gina K.
Holly McMillen
Jak Heath
Javablustamper/Jacquie
Kimberly Crawford
Jeanne Streiff
Trudy Sjolander

If you would like to send Katie a card, her mailing address is:

Katie Renz
PO Box 5913
Bellingham, WA 98227-5913 To donate money, please click the donate button below.

thank you for helping

~kimberly

Easy Canvas Prints

Pictures on Canvas

(My Easy Canvas Prints in our upper living room.)

I was asked to review a canvas from a company called, Easy Canvas Prints. Seeing as the holidays are coming and the grandparents go cuckoo for anything with the little man’s face on it, I thought, hey, these might be pretty great! And they are! (and, I am going to have to order others, this one is all mine! :) )

Easy Canvas Prints has several canvas sizes to choose from. Once you start the ordering process, the website has a great photo of what your canvas would look like over a basic couch. I loved that. It gave me a great idea of how large my canvas would be.

The next step is uploading your photo. Its quick and easy. Please use very high quality photos when doing this, to ensure that your canvas looks the best it can look. You can move it around a wee bit too. But wait and move it around after you choose your image wrap. My pick was image wrap, so the photo continued around the corners.

Here is a closer look at the 8x8 canvas I chose. This photo was already in black and white, but for a fee, you can have Easy Canvas Prints change it for you.
If you are looking for great holiday gifts, or if you are looking to hang some of your photography on your walls, Easy Canvas Prints is a great company to order through. And I am thrilled with my canvas!
Oooh, and Easy Canvas Prints has a sale going on right now! 25% off canvas and free standard shipping!!
Sorry its been so quiet around here. The little man had double ear infections, my parents came for a several day visit, which was wonderful, and well, I have over-volunteered myself at the little man’s school! :)
 thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly
And a reminder that the Swimming For Katie blog hop and fundraiser starts today. I will be participating later in the week. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help if you can. Visit i {heart} papers.com for more details and to read Katie’s story.

Operation Julie’s Smile

I am so glad that you joined us on this amazing blog hop for Operation Julie’s Smile. If you came here from LARUEL BEARD’S  blog, then you are in the right spot. If not, you may want to start from the beginning at the Sweet Stamp Shop’s blog and take your time. You have ALL WEEKEND to hop with us and win prizes!

The creative blogging community is coming together this weekend to help one of our friends, Julie Ranae. You may know her as the Design Team Coordinator for many wonderful companies from bakers twine, die cuts, rubber stamps and more. What many people don’t know about Julie Ranae is that she has had some pretty major dental surgeries in her lifetime due to medication she had to take as a child. It was in her plans to think about having all of her teeth replaced at some point in the next 5 years, a decision that was pretty easy to plan out. But then it happened…she chipped her front teeth on a weekend a month ago. The dentist told her there was no way to save them & that it was his recommendation that she give in and have them all her teeth removed soon, but for that day, they needed to get her front teeth done so her gums could begin to heal. He said he would 'work out payments with her to have ALL this work done...but when she called to make her appt for the first step of impressions, they told her the amount of money that was needed and that the 'payments' applied only to the two teeth that were extracted that day. Her husband Paul was with her & that too, was his understanding as well. So this is how she has found herself in this situation…Needing at least $4000 to get started and another $3000 to finish the process…a total of $7000.

Nicole Rixon, owner of Sweet Stamp Shop put together this benefit after finding out about this situation and before Julie Ranae knew it, it took flight!
Because she is an event organizer by trade, she has taken on the job of organizing all of the blogs in this hop as her way of ‘working overtime’ for what she needs, the same as if she were able to work overtime at an outside job to pay for the work to be done.
It is the goal of all of these generous friends & sponsors to help make this situation more do-able for our friend so that she can share a brand new smile with all of us soon.

If there is anything you can do to help with a financial donation, there is a donation button ready for you to click. Any amount is appreciated and ALL I hope you enjoyed your stop here on the hop!

Just a quick project to share with you today. I love this color combination in the Blissful 6x6 paper pad from Authentique. The little bit of pink with the yellow and the grey makes me happy.

The border is die cut from 100% wool felt and a Spellbinders Edgeabilities. It’s a combination of the cut edge from Classic Scallop and a decorative insert from Classic Ric Rac.

Now, if you are wondering how you can be eligible to win the $2500 worth of prizes up for grabs, there are a couple of ways. First, leave comments on the blogs. And second, a list of all the donations via Pay Pal. Names will be drawn from both those lists.

To donate to this cause via Pay Pal, please click here:

The next stop is VERA YATES’  blog. Make sure you leave a comment here before you go so that you can have a chance at the amazing prizes up for grabs and if you can, please make a donation so we can help bring back a new smile for our friend. DONATIONS will be eligible for prizes from our sponsor pool of over $2500.

thanks for helping and for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Spellbinders Edgeabilities (Classic Scallop, Classic Ric Rac), Patterned paper-Authentique (Blissful), Twine-Pink Paislee, Felt-100% Wool, Stamp-Hero Arts (Thanks for being a Friend)

Happy World Card Making Day! and video tutorial

There is a lot of card making going on today, please be sure to scroll down to my second post!

Welcome to World Card Making Day! If you are wondering what this is all about, be sure to click the hyperlink and check out everything that is happening!

My card today combines Spellbinders die templates and Want2Scrap Nestabling. Two products that are beautiful and easy to use!

If you have never worked with Nestabling before, I encourage you to watch this quick video tutorial about how easy this self-adhesive bling is to use.

Spellbinders Lacey Ovals and Want2Scrap Nestabling

For those that need a direct link: Spellbinders and Nestabling

Have fun making cards today! thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Spellbinders-S4-314 Lacey Ovals, LF-006 Wonderful Wings, Want2Scrap-Nestabling (Lacey Ovals, Black), Patterned paper-Crate Paper (Farmhouse 6x6, Random 6x6), Letter stickers-Authentique