A Challenge, a PIF and a Hello from across the Pond

Weekends are SWEET!

And some candy is coming.....read on!

Hi all! Happy Weekend! I have to say this week has lasted forever and a day....with time for breathing at a premium! I have had a great week of mail though! First, I want to share a postcard I received from a blogging sister, Sue, from the UK....she sent me this card in a sister postcard swap. She grew up here and lives close to all this...Cool, huh? Sue was sweet enough to send me a few Tilda images of little Magnolia....



...I actually used her to make this card for a Birthday card challenge on NattyK's blog...this SBS sister challenged us to make a pink birthday card. This one is for my good friend Sarah, whose birthday in early March. I used my copic markers for the first time and I LOVE how she turned out! You cannot really tell, but I used a glitter pen on her wings and there's an 'S' on the little tag on her egg {for Sue and Sarah, tee hee} I also used my paper crimper and primas for the flowers. And my sentiment is from Gina K. My SBS sis Sue shares a lot of cards made with this sweet girl and I love them all. She's just so DARLING, don't you think??


PIF...do you all know what that is? Well, for those of you that aren't sure...it means Pass It Forward. It means you get something nice and you pass on something nice and on and on around the world :) I have always wanted to participate in a PIF, and my SBS sister Amber had my first opportunity on her blog....I commented and received these wonderful goodies! Her card is beautiful and the picture of the cuttlebugged image does not do it justice!
















The CB'ed images are GOLD and SPARKLY! And Amber sent me some new to me bellas I don't have the stamps for (LOVE BELLAS!!!!!) and green and sparkly BLING! LOVE GREEN! And finally, but not least, she sent me some adorable acrylic stamps...very cool....click on the picture for a close up! So, so fun...SO! In order for me to PIF....and if you would like some BLOG CANDY of your own.....comment here, be one of the first THREE to do so and I will send you your very own SURPRISE! Be sure your name has a weblink or you include your email, so I can contact you for your address! Oh! and if you choose to play the PIF, don't forget, you also need to PIF to three others...that's the way it works :)

Go, Go!

And have great and blessed weekend....snow and all!
Kim

Erika's blog

Love DOES Rock!

Erika Martin's artwork has always made me happy. She is a stamper who loves color, design and texture...all things I adore in stamping, food and clothing...but I was drawn to Erika's blog and work by something even bigger: Her passion for her art, her family and raising awareness of Autism. Erika's son Zach is one of the children in our world who lives with autism and its impact on his family and his life.

Erika is also a very generous person...she has made blog candy an art form in itself, with weekly giveaways, one of which I've won recently myself!!

Well, excitement on Erika's site is just bubbling up and I wanted to share it with all of you!


First, Zach recently celebrated his 9th birthday and Erika and Zach are giving you a chance to win a great prize! Follow this link!

Secondly, Erika has painted a wonderful acrylic masterpiece to raise money towards research in Autism. It is available for bidding on EBay....Check it out! Follow this link! And feel free to bid on it....it would be a gift to yourself and to Zach.

And finally, Erika has shared some personal thoughts and reflections as the mother of a child with autism as she shares her hopes and dreams for her boy. As a mom of two, I know that none of us are sure of what the future holds for our children; I also know that we all have dreams and desires that our kids will become exactly what God has purposed for them to be. Erika shares her hope beautifully on her blog, Stampin' Mama: A Mama that Stamps.

I think her passion will touch your spirit and your heart! Also, feel free to visit her blog that she shares with Zach! Follow this link!

Be well and blessed this week!
Love ya!
Kim

Happy Joyful Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's the official hug your hunny, snuggle your sweetie, swoon over your sweetheart and kiss your Cutie Day!

(although everyday works for me ;)

This is the card I made my hubby for the day. I used Gina K's "How Sweet it Is" images and sentiment. This stamp set raises money ($7. per set sold!) and awareness of Diabetes, so if you are like me and live to support worthy causes, check out the set! Her company is worth it's service in GOLD! I used the paper piecing technique for the sundae...it's one of my favorite techniques! I used SU markers to color the image and some hearts from SU's A Light Heart retired stamp set.



Here's another bottle project that I put together for my DH. He is a real chocolate addict and I decided that to be a good wife and not sabotage his diet, I would give him chocolate with portion control....of course I have absolutely no will power for portion control, but thought he'd get a kick out of it! LOL!!

The label uses Stampendous' clear acrylic abc's and says "mi esposo favorito", one of my pet names for John (it means "my favorite husband" in spanish. In my experience, in Mexico, they don't capitalize as a rule in informal writing! Ever get an email in spanish?) The "love ya" is so very ME and is stamped in CHF's Scripty words set.

He'll love it, I think :) How can he not?!?

In other news (tee hee)--My SBS sister Amber has awarded "the sistahs" with the Blog of Excellence award...How sweet is that? We're supposed to nominate other bloggers, so here are a few of my VERY VERY favorites:
Nichole Heady's blog at Capture the Moment and Holly Brown at Glitter Stamps and Ink, oh My! These ladies do blogs and cards AWESOME! Check them out!

Well, all, have a great great day! Don't forget to give a big hug and kiss to the ones you love!! Enjoy the day the Lord has made! Rejoice and Be Glad!!

Kim

Challenges are good! And so is card swapping!

One of the stamping hobby things I really enjoy are the swapping cards or images with other stampers. It not only challenges me to create using a specific set of criteria or materials, it also blesses me with ideas! I love sharing creativity! The first card is an SBS9 Sketch challenge with my SBS9 sisters. Suzann gave us a sketch; click here to see it on her blog.


Here is my entry into the challenge:

I used a base card from a set of blank cards by Carlson. My aunt gave them to me as part of a great Christmas gift. I wanted some brighter colors for this card. I also used some scrap purple and yellow. I used Papertrey Ink's stamp set Green Thumb for the flowers. I also used Versamark ink and some SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the background flowers, also from the set. It doesn't show up real well in the picture but it is **SUPER SPARKLY**! A few coordinating prima flowers with OTC brads and some old ribbon I've had forever and VOILA! A challenge sketch card :)

The next card was for a Cornish Heritage Farms Forum swap. I made it about a month ago, but the swap hadn't been received by the other stampers, so I wanted to wait to post it! We had to use only CHF stamped images. I used Cute curls and Scripty words from their Kim Hughes collection. What do you think? I love Kim's sentiment because the words "Love ya" are the tag line for most of my conversations with my students as well as my closest friends and family.

These last cards are prototypes for a 3x3 swap I am doing with some of the stampers in my church. What began as a creative women's night out has turned into a stamping circle of great proportions! (And don't believe it when someone from church says I created the monster...unleashed it, maybe, but 'created' it is a little strong! ;) So we are having a swap and beginning small....literally!! LOL! These were my first attempts at using acetate (overhead transparencies) to create a card. My final design is a secret until after the swap! But I liked these a lot! I had a hard time getting a good photo that showed the card well....I ended up making a little stand for the card with a scrap piece of acetate. It was an interesting experiment!

What's up for your weekend?? Hope it involves something or someone you love! Glad you stopped in! Be sure to leave a comment! Then I feel like we've chatted! Be well and blessed and stay warm and cozy!!

Love ya!

Kim

Family is good....and birthdays are, too!

Birthdays seem to be happening all around me and it's hard to keep up!! Happy Birthday to all my SBS sisters that have been celebrating since our forum began!! I dreamt of getting cards out to everyone, but life always seemed to interrupt so this card goes out to all of you!! Enjoy a wonderful new year of living the Life Amazing!

Knowing the SBS9 sisters are a part of my stamping family makes me think of all of the family I have around me...my biological family, my hubby's family, my church family, my work family, my community family and my stamping family. And you know what? It's all good! I thank God for my family and all that they are! What a blessing to have those in your life that always stick up and look out for you! Be blessed by them today!




This next card is the one I made for my son's 22nd birthday which was actually last weekend. We shared the purchase of a Wii for his big day with his girlfriend. I was able to stamp him up a card just this week, but I know he'll appreciate it anyhow! He's not a big forest guy, but my manly stamping images are limited. He was a Bear in cubscouts when he was little!! :) I used the CHF backgrounder pine needles and a Northwoods stamp I purchased from them awhile back. The sentiment is from Gina K's free set you can earn on her site. I made the woodgrain panel myself with chocolate chip ink and white craft ink. I think I learned that on a Gina K tutorial years ago. Oh! I also colored the birch trees with a white gel pen :) What do you think?



My last card for this post is for my MIL (mother in law ;). She has had surgery and is still in the hospital. I wanted something springy and although it's hard to tell, the SU cardstock colors are gable green, lilac and glorious green. The stamp set is a Stampendous window box set, although the little butterflies are from SU's basket of fun set. Looking at it now, I think I should have added a prima flower or a decorative brad....hmmmmm. ...perhaps I'll CASE myself!

Tomorrow I want to post my friendship card challenge and perhaps a few more surprises?? Who knows what God has in store for me!!

Be well and blessed all!!

Kim

Friendship is so good!

I could not do it! I could not make it through this life without my friends! My husband and I have friends all over the country and friends all over the world. No, really we do. And we all have those friends whom we love and see and share our joys and our disasters with all the time. I happen to have a few friends without whom I really wouldn't have any good days. Do you have those friends? If I can't see them in person for any length of time, I find myself longing to be with them! Almost as if some part of my very being is missing. The card you see above is an embodiment of my feelings towards those special individuals God has blessed me with in this life. My closest friends are the fond memories in my life...teardrops of time treasured in my heart. This image set is the one of Clear Acrylic Stamps collector's sets, In a Peaceful Glade. Isn't that bunny just wonderful?? These stamps are just so beautiful to work with...because the images are so sharp the first time, I've never had to stamp one more than once!! And coloring with my pencils and OMS, along with my SU Cameo coral marker was therapeutic after a 13 hour work day! And that whole time I colored the image, I thought about my close friends...and I smiled.

Here's another card using some of the single stamps designed and sold by Clear Artistic stamps...This is a thank you card (obviously! LOL!) using the bunny and flower...I wanted some springtime in my cards...so tired of winter!! The prima flowers and bric-a-brac are so perfect together, don't you think?? The calligraphy is mine :)

Here is a close up of the bunny and potted plant. I kind of cheated...I learned a long time ago that to avoid cutting a lot of tiny details on an image, I only had to cut the easy part and incorporate the rest of it into my design. Much easier and I like "easier"....A LOT!

Well, friends, I have been making a lot of cards lately...I'll probably post a bunch of them this week! I used Belinda's stamps here as part of a challenge on our Clear Artistic stamp forum. I have an SBS9 sketch card to post too....maybe tomorrow!! Don't you just get chills of anticipation of things to come.....okay, well, maybe the chills are due to the fact that the door just blew open!! In any case I hope you'll look forward and let all your friends know you love and need them!

And please pray for those folks affected by those tornados this week. My heart is aching for them. Pray what the Lord would have you do to help! God bless you all!!

Kim

My middle name :) Tagged!

A first for me! I have been *tagged* by my SBS9 sister Suzann:

The Middle Name Game!

These are the rules:-You just post the rules before you give your answers.

You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details.)

Multilinguistic: Love vocabulary! and languages! and talking! ;) My favs: Italian, Spanish and Sign Language!

Academic: I love learning and researching everything! Everything!

Red hair: I have accepted the fact that I cannot escape it! Everyone else wants it, so I embrace it!

Intense: I have been told that I am pretty intense in my passion for everything I do! (note the !s in this post!)
Entertaining: I love to entertain kids with my puppets and grownups with my bad jokes!!


And here are the 5 bloggers I'm tagging next!

Wendy
Kurtis
Vanessa
Joan
Tonya

Faithful

"I have always felt that the moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours." -Monica Baldwin

God is so faithful. That is the message that keeps going through my mind this week. There is so much going on in the world, yet God is here for us everyday! When I hear the news on the TV and radio, I end up so sad and discouraged! (My pastor calls CNN "constantly negative news")Yet when I pray right then and there for the people and situations I am hearing about, there is a peace in my mind, heart and spirit that says to me: Do not worry. I am there.

I know some would ask that if God is there, then why do these 'situations' happen? Boy, if only I had the answers to those specific situations! The only thing I can do is read what God's Word says to us: Do not fear for I am with you always or God turns all things for good to those that love Him. God seeks to bless us and not cause us harm. Oftentimes, I am my own worst enemy! The decisions I make and the things I choose to do cause hurt and pain to those I love or to myself....and I think, What WAS I thinking?? When I choose to walk the narrow path of right living and right thinking (and we ALL know what that is! Right from wrong is an early lesson, isn't it??) my path is blessed with all good things!

The apostle Paul is the most real person to me in the bible. (Jesus notwithstanding :) I so identify with Paul's lament: Oh, why do I do that which I don't want to do and don't do what I know I should (my paraphrase!) Only with God can we reconcile those things...our desires and our choices with right living. But God is faithful to pull us back into His arms, or His lap and love us the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want! Even when I can't see the path ahead, God is faithful to provide the light I need to see the next two steps! He is! But we must faithfully walk on! Don't give up and don't give in to those emotions that tell you that you are alone! You are never alone with a God who is faithful.

Be blessed!
Kim

PS I never shared my exciting news...the school board where I work okay'ed two days leave from work so that I can go on a stamping cruise next fall with Gina K, Emma Bella and Nichole Heady! Stamping on a boat!! My DH gave me the cruise as a Christmas and early 25th wedding anniversary present! He is SO cute! ;)