no place like home for the holidays

ETA: A better photo. Wow, I must have been editing in the dark! Sorry about that!

Today I am sharing another project using the Studio AE November kit from Technique Tuesday. The set is called, Memories of Home. And like the song says, there’s no place like home for the holidays. In fact, that is even a sentiment in this set, “there’s no place like home.”



That song, of course, inspired this card. The house was stamped onto Creative Imaginations Cherry Wood paper and cut out. Some great Studio Calico papers were distressed and layered to the card base. And Paper Source trim was adhered to the top. (to keep your bows in place, use small Dodz behind each tail and loop of the bow)

Oh, and the sentiment is from the Jingle All the Way set from Ali Edwards and Technique Tuesday.

A very large thank you to Technique Tuesday for having me guest design this month! They are such good people over there, it’s a pleasure creating with their product!! Not to mention the stamps are fantastic in design and quality!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly



Gratitude: Today I am thankful that I get to be a stay-at-home mom. Not only have I been able to spend my days with our little man, and now working at school, but I also have the ability to get all those annoying errands out of the way during the week, so our weekends, and for the most part, evenings, stay free for family time.

This will be the end of the month of gratitude. Thank you for all of you who have left comments each day. Its great to read about what you have to be thankful for, it reminds me of things I take for granted. I will draw TWO winners later during the weekend and announce the winners early next week. I have two boxes full of stamps, a set of dies, paper, adhesive, and other fun stuff. So, if you haven’t, come and leave comments now! :)

And the reason for me being gone is, my parents have decided to come for Thanksgiving! We are SO excited, but oh there is so much work to do to get ready! It’s a wonderful problem! And I need to remind myself to take it easy, so I don’t pay the price to the rheumatoid arthritis floating around my immune system. :)

Thinking of You Avocado Arts

Hello! Today I have another Avocado Arts project to share with you, this one using the first two kits released, Sunshine and Smiles and Hello Friend.

This lamp totally makes me think 70’s. Not sure why, but I wanted to use those types of colors. The patterned paper is definitely where this color palette came from!

Thinking macramé beads, I grabbed some real wood paper and stamped the sentiment (Sunshine and Smiles) in brown ink. Then I stamped the map shade on canvas. After cutting it out, I added Copic colored pearls to the bottom edge. Then the base of the lamp was stamped onto cardstock and cut out. Simple, fun, great to send. I really love using a thinking about you sentiment. It lets you use any type of image or color palette and have a reason for the card!

And now a little peek at what is coming in the next set to be released, ZipN by to say Hi…This one is fun, fun, and more fun!! Stop back on the 30th for the full project.

Check out the rest of the team and their inspiration:
Avocado Arts Blog
AJ Otto
Latisha Yoast
Julia Stainton
Becky Oehlers

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Stamps-Avocado Arts (Sunshine and Smiles, Hello Friend), Patterned paper-My Mind’s Eye Stella and Rose (Hattie), Wood paper-Creative Imaginations (Real Wood Cherry Thin), Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Clearsnap (Colorbox Chalk Prussian Blue), Ranger (Distressing-Vintage Photo), Canvas-Canvas Corp (12x12), Pearls-Want 2 Scrap, Copic-BG72

frames

Just a little peek into some of the decorating I have been up to in our new house. I am sure you are asking yourself what this has to do with paper crafting, but hang on, it does! :)

I am loving this collection of frames on the top of our dresser. I have a thing for oval frames lately…And who is that couple? When were we that young? :)

Ok, getting to the crafty part…The frame in front was inspired by something I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog. As soon as I saw a frame made to look like old wood, I knew I could make my own.

The base is a plain wood frame from Michael’s. I painted it dark brown, to work with the edges I would create on the wood pieces.

I cut apart Real Wood paper from Creative Imaginations. (The paper is thin wood, backed with paper. It cuts easily in a paper trimmer.) It was painted with white paint and once that dried, the edges were painted with brown. It took the paint beautifully.

To create the nails, I used some flat, shiny red, self-adhesive gems from Hero Arts. Painting over them with black paint made the perfect nail head.

The leaves were die cut from new CHA Spellbinders release dies, Foliage. (not available yet, but check your local store)

And one last little peek. What do you think? Are you inspired to create from catalogs? Its a bit obsessive for me. Got any good catalog recommendations?

Its busy here-yy MIL arrives Wednesday and I leave for Los Angeles on Thursday, for a week. The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) winter show starts this weekend. I will be there with Spellbinders, working in the booth. Hopefully I will be able to sneak away to take a few photos and share them when I get back. :)

thanks for always stopping by!

Supplies: Paper-Creative Imaginations (Real Wood-Thick Cherry), Patterned paper-Jenni Bowlin, Flowers-Prima, Brads-Nikki Sivils, Butterflies-Jenni Bowlin, Gems-Hero Arts, Paint-Ranger, Frame-Michael’s, Spellbinders-Foliage

more Mint Motif sneak peeks

For today’s card, I used the small candy jar images. I love old fashioned candy jars. In our old kitchen, they lined our shelves, along with cute candy scoops. They just make me smile.

Each jar was colored with Copic markers and then a layer of Glossy Accents was added. Once the accents dried (overnight, just a suggestion :)), each of the jars was cut out.

To make the little shelf that the jars are sitting on, I cut a piece of cardstock to length and 1 1/4”. The cardstock was scored every 1/4”, making a box with an extra flap to adhere it together. Then I die cut a piece of wood paper and adhered it to the front of the little box. Pretty cute and easy idea. :)

Sweet Hearts will be available at i {heart} papers tomorrow morning!! see you then with the full reveal! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Mint Motif-Sweet Hearts (available Jan. 14), Patterned paper-Cosmo Cricket (Togetherness), Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copics (BG000, C03, C05), Glossy Accents-Ranger, Real Wood Paper-Creative Imaginations-Thin Cherry), Spellbinders-Labels Large, Classic Scalloped Border Petite

joy

A layout for Spellbinders, using the Large Format dies. They work together perfectly to create frames, like the one surrounding the photo.

The photo is from the first night our little man rode in his swing. Those photos will always be some of my all-time favorites. There is quite a few from that night. :)

Anyone else not going to be ready before Christmas? :) thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Spellbinders-Grand Circles, Grand Scalloped Circles, Standard Circles Large, Big Scalloped Circles Large, Patterned paper-Cosmo Cricket, Real Wood Paper-Creative Imaginations (Thin Cherry), Letter stickers-American Crafts, Tiny Type Stickers-Cosmo Cricket

***FYI-From i {heart} papers : Did you know that this today is National Free Shipping Friday? I didn't know such a thing existed, but alas it does. So, IHP is offering FREE SHIPPING ON ALL US orders (no minimums!) and 50% off on Canadian shipping. All other international customers will be invoiced for full shipping charges. Sorry! (Canadian customers PLEASE READ: When you enter the code it will zero out your shipping but I will invoice you for the 50% off. It's a limitation of the shopping cart and it can't place country restrictions on promotional codes.) Please use promo code: freeshipdt

gratitude day 8

Today’s gratitude: PBS and no commercials. We watched another network for one show and the advertisements were obnoxious. And they made the little man that way too. He wanted everything that flashed on the screen. So today, I am thankful for quality television shows that don’t have toy advertisements.

On a side note, we did start Christmas shopping for the little man and I am thankful for my creative hubby who cleverly hid our covert shopping purchases. :) It was fun! Up until now, the little man hasn’t really paid attention, or noticed. But this year he is getting wise to the games. Isn’t this what parenting is all about?!?! :)

Moxie Fab World had a great challenge called, Diggin’ on Damask. I love damask images. Love. Love. Love. Almost as much as I love kraft cardstock. Yep, its that much. :)

I started this card by stamping the damask image in black ink onto wood paper. Love the contrast of the rustic wood and elegant damask. Then I sprayed over the entire piece with Glimmer Mist. It made the ink bleed a bit. But, I thought it looked like old fabric, soft and worn. The wood grain also still stands out.

The card has been sitting and waiting and waiting to be finished. I just couldn’t cover up the unique background with ribbon or lace, or another shape. Then I saw this rub on in my stash. Perfect. And finished just in time for the deadline. :) Be sure and check out all the fun and trendy challenges, including eye candy at Moxie Fab World.

What are you thankful for today? And where is your best toy-hiding location? thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Technique Tuesday (Rococo), Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Glimmer Mist-Tattered Angels (Turquoise), Wood paper-Real Wood (Creative Imaginations-Thick Maple), Rub on-(Cosmo Cricket)

Paper Crafts Magazine presents: The 12 Designers of Christmas Blog Hop

This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced on September 21 at the Paper Crafts Connections blog. My winner will also be posted, here. Thank you for visiting!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!! Oh, how I love Christmas and the latest special issue from Paper Crafts Magazine, Holiday Cards & More Vol. 5 has put me in the spirit!! The issue is available now and you can pick yours up HERE.

I am thrilled to have quite a few cards in this issue. Every project in this issue is amazing and I am quite honored to be in it! Making Christmas projects always brings back such wonderful memories for me. My family has traditions that go back to when my dad was born. Its truly amazing to see all my cousin’s children, along with my little man, participating in those same traditions. A big part of those memories include music. And singing my lungs out to Christmas music in July, while working on this call, definitely inspires me. :)

For today, we were all given directions to use to create a unique project, especially for this hop. You can download the directions for the bag I used today, HERE. You can see the original project in the issue: Holiday Plaid Gift Bag (p. 104) by Becky Olsen. This is a cute and easy to make bag. Its just perfect for a sleeve of golf balls, which in my family is very handy for the holidays! :)

The tag on the front was made with Spellbinders Heirloom Ornament 2010 and a stamp from Hero Arts, from the clear set, Get Merry.

Here is the fun and best part of today! Checking out what everyone else has created! Look at this list of designers! Wow! Make sure and visit each blog and leave a comment, because you will have 12 chances to win an amazing prize, and if you leave a comment at Paper Crafts Connection, where you can see the prize package and the original projects that inspired this hop, you will have 13 chances! This just in!! If you visit Moxie Fab World today, you will get yet another chance to win, bringing your grand total of chances to 14!!

Teri Anderson

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Latisha Yoast

Maren Benedict

Heidi Van Laar

Jessica Witty

Anabelle O’Malley

Kim Kesti

Sarah Martina Parker

Windy Robinson

Kimberly Crawford *you are here*

All comments must be posted by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, Sept. 19. The grand prize winner will be announced on the Paper Crafts Connection blog on Tuesday, Sept. 21.

AND I also have a special prize to give away to one of the lucky commenters on my blog---a copy of Holiday Cards and More Volume 5!! I will announce the winner on the the 21st, also.

To be entered for a chance to win the prize package from Paper Crafts AND a chance to win an issue, tell me your all-time favorite Christmas song. And tell me why you love that song.

thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Hero Arts (Get Merry), Patterned paper-Jillibean Soup (Summer Squash Soup-Gold Potatoes), Corrugated Cardboard-Creative Imaginations (Pearl Cream), Spellbinders-Heirloom Ornament 2010