Happy Birthday...

...to my sweet little niece, Haley, who turns three this Friday! Here is the card I made for her (and actually mailed on Monday, I would like to add). I have to put that disclaimer in because, well, I have an "issue" with getting cards sent off on time to arrive before the actual event.

Hello, my name is Kim, and I am a card-sending procrastinator. It is a well known fact within my family that if your card arrives within two weeks of your birthday, anniversary, or other special event then you have officially gotten an "on-time" card from me. It isn't that I don't care enough to send the very best, it is just that there is some missing switch in my brain that just physically prevents me from getting it into the mailbox on time. Call it "postal bravado" if you will, but I feel that I will always have time to mail it, then I realize that the card cannot physically travel from Austin to Alabama in 12 hours. Then, I will rationalize, if it is going to be late, might as well be really late. That way, it is like a little extra celebration for the recipient after their special day. So see, I love them more than the rest of my on time family. I want to extend their fun right on through the next couple of weeks. Because I'm a giver. Yeah, that's it!

So, back to the card. I usually try to shoot my pictures without flash because I get a really bad glare on my photos...mostly because I set my camera to "macro" to get those tight shots, but this time I had to add some flash so you could get an idea of how sparkly and cute this little "h" is. I know my girly-girl niece will love a sparkly "h" on her card, so I had to give her one. The image is from the retired set "Hip Hip Hooray" which I loved from the get go. I stamped the little critters using Basic Black and let them dry a couple of minutes before taking the blender pen and ink pads to them to color them in. I drew the colors for the image from the cardstock colors that I used, Pixie Pink, Green Galore, and Lavender Lace.

I stamped the main piece of cardstock all over with the cupcake and party hat images then added the "Happy Birthday" using Pink Passion over the top. I had to do a little bit of masking on the squirrel's head to keep the balloon lines from cutting right through it, but it was quick and easy. Then for the sticky cut letter I mounted it to a piece of Lavender Lace cardstock and cut it out before applying the glitter to it. I have to say, if you have not played with the sticky cuts yet they are way too much fun! I have never had such an easy time putting glitter on something as I did on this.

After finishing the card I ran it by Little Miss A for the final seal of approval. It got a "Mommy, it is gorgeous...did you make this one?" which is a compliment from her so I knew that I could put a stamp on it and send it on its way to my home state and my sweet niece.

On another line...I am going to take the child to SeaWorld on Thursday. Those of you who spent any time at my house about 2 years ago (when she was 2 1/2 years old) know that this is her most favorite place in the entire world. We go so often that the dolphins in the big petting/feeding tank know my daughter. I am not saying this indiscriminately either. She can walk up to the tank without one of those french-fry boats that the fish to feed the dolphins are kept in, and they will swim right to her. Every time. It is great fun for us, and everyone wonders how she does it, but I promise you, it is like they think she is a missing dolphin baby that has made it back to the pod. If it wasn't so darn cute I would be sort of creeped out by it.

She also makes a point to explain the difference between male and female killer whales to everyone around us at the "Believe" show (for those of you who don't know, male whale's dorsal fins stand straight up, the female's fins sort of curve over back toward the water) and she can sing all the lyrics to the songs of said show. I just know in my heart that one day she is going to work at SeaWorld in that dang tank full of potentially child-eating KILLER WHALES (they don't call them that because they are cuddly, people!) and I will have to stand watch at SeaWorld every single day to make sure that my child is not injured. I can feel the gray hairs popping up already. I wonder if you can color your hair with copic markers? If not, purchase Miss Clairol stock now girls, 'cuz I am going to make you rich one day.

I hope that everyone has a great day! Check out my schedule over at my Stampin' UP! website for my July events, and until next time....Happy Stamping!

Kim

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope that everyone is having a great 4th of July! We are having a great time around Chateau du Williams today. I took Little Miss A to the parade as promised and she had a blast. It is hard to tell from the blank expression on her face in this picture, but really, she is having fun on the inside...lol! I don't know if you can see the red, white, and blue feather boa that I am holding, but it ended up on the crossbar of my bike to help give it that extra "flare".




Here is a happier looking child! We are all lined up and waiting for the parade to get started and some other kids in the line up gave her some candy. This is why she can now cheese it up for the camera, she is getting her sugar rush going. I am just grateful that we got to line up in the shade, lest her knees get all bendy, and her head get all melty. The most funny part was, after the parade (that I did all the pedalling in) she told me that she needed to come home and get a bath because her "...hair got a little sweaty in the back." Oh yes, I know how riding in the trailer while mommy dodges 5 year-olds trying to score some candy in the parade can make your hair "sweaty in the back". My hair was definitely "sweaty in the back" as well. And then I still had to get us home...

So, once I got home, here is what I worked on in between cooking:

This little guy is another one of those extra cute Stampendous Bees....Watermelon Bee! I stamped him on GP white and colored him in with Copics. The patterned paper is from that huge My Mind's Eye pack I got last week. I embossed over it with Hologram Highlights. I think I might have actually cried when that EP retired from Stampin' Up awhile back. The main body of the card is done with Blue Bayou, and the mats are Real Red and Soft Sky. The little sunshine and the sentiment were from a pack of $1 stamps from Michaels. Here are the close ups of the sentiment as well as some of the stars. They are from the "Stars and Swirls" set that is retired SU as well. It is kind of hard to see on these pictures, but I did some blending with my colorless blender pen to give the watermelon some actual melon looking shading. I think I am going to go back and add some stickles to the bee's antennae as well.























Well, it is time to go man the grill. The DH is working today and hopefully will be home soon to enjoy a tasty burger, some pasta salad, cold watermelon and brownies to boot! I hope that everyone has a fun, safe celebration today. Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Some summer fun...

...with Pun Fun, that is! These are the first two in a set of eight cards that will be made at my upcoming "Pun Fun Class". This little set is so much fun to play with, and really versatile as well. I love silly puns to begin with, so this set works really well for me.

My true acid test for whether or not a card will work during a class or workshop is to show it to Little Miss A. If I hear, "Oh Mommy, it is gorgeous, I LOVE IT," then I know I have a winner. If I hear, "Oh, that's nice." then I know it is time to

hit the drawing board again. Of course, to her credit, she will try to tell me something that she likes about a card that she doesn't care for, so I guess I can put "empathy" pretty high on her personality list, even if she is a monkey with her hair on fire most of the time.

So, something else completely unrelated. Tomorrow I am going to bike with Little Miss in the annual Shady Hollow 4th of July parade. They always have a few floats, lots of pets, and some folks riding on their bikes. I checked the tires tonight to make sure that we don't have a replay of the "Melty" walk home from the pool a couple of weeks ago. The little one is excited about actually being in the parade, and I promise I will try to take photos before and after to show everyone.

After that it is back home for me to drink 3 gallons of water (again, remember what I have said about biking and me? Not the best fit in the world, but a girl has to start somewhere.) Then I'll fire up the grill to cook some hamburgers and hotdogs and after we stuff ourselves it is over to the neighbor's house for fireworks. Yes, I said fireworks. Living "in the county" instead of "in the city" has it's advantages. We aren't talking sparklers here, folks, we are talking some serious fireworks that will be exploding over our parched lawns. Good times, good times.

So, y'all have a safe and happy 4th, eat lots of great food and have fun! And, until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Time to rock the vote...

...for my friend Lydia!! She has entered a craft contest at Mind Bites and needs some votes. She has two entries, one for her "Glittery Love Note and Celebrate Today" card and the other for "Handmade Patriotic & Monochromatic card". You have to register with the site to vote (it is free) and you can only vote once per day. Here is my plan....since you can only vote once a day for her projects, I would love to see everyone that checks out my blog to vote for her "Glittery Love Note" project. That way we can maximize her chance at winning this thing. You can still click on the other project to watch the video, or tune in to Channel 11 (Time Warner Cable in Austin) on Tuesday at 1 p.m. to watch her show.

I am getting excited because I placed my order yesterday for all the new In Colors as well as some new stamp sets and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will be here by next Friday. Yes, you heard me correctly, not this Friday, next Friday. Why so long, you ask? Well, imagine me and 100,000 other demonstrators all slamming Stampin' Up! with orders all at one time. The picking time that they post went to 4 to 5 days, which is the longest I have ever seen it, instantly. So, I figure they will get my order picked by Monday the 7th, then ship it out to me. And, if my UPS guy happens upon this blog (hey, Mr. Brown, how you doin'?....said in my best Joey Tribianni voice), well, you better be ready for me to tackle you at the truck. But I promise, I'll be gentle. Wouldn't want to wrinkle my paper or anything like that.

I wonder if anyone at UPS has figured out the catalog cycle for Stampin' Up yet? Do you think they have delivery drivers calling in sick on those days because they know that there are thousands of us just waiting for those brown boxes of stamping goodness to come our way? I bet someone there has it figured out. My UPS driver has a system in which he leaves my box at the door, pulls out a 6 foot pole to ring the bell (so he is already half-way to the truck), then makes a run for it. I kid you not. This guy could give Flo-Jo a run for her money. So, to counteract this I now put my dogs out in the yard on "Mr. Brown" day so I can hear them start to bark when he pulls up in front of the house. I think I almost gave him a coronary the last time he was here, since I was waiting with my hand on the doorknob. When I heard the first "thunk" of a box being put down I threw the door open and said, "Hey! How you doin'?" Not really, I think I just told him "thank you" but you could see the fear in his eyes.

Honestly, I have a great UPS guy, and he is perfectly safe coming here. But, he might want to be extra careful when the new catalogs arrive, for I fear that I have customers that are going to be staking out the place to make sure that they get their's as soon as possible, all because I am going to be on stinkin' vacation when the new catty is delivered. I really have to start planning these things a bit better.

That's all for now, off to stamp and post a card in a bit. Have a great day, and until next time, Happy Stamping!!

Kim

First, a Thank you...

...to Lickety Split Scrapbooks! I entered their Friday the 13th contest and emailed some information about them to 13 of my friends, and in return I won this:

Which, when I opened, was filled with this:

So now I have to get to working on some scrapbook pages or cards using all this fun stuff. I already have an autumn themed card in mind for those precious leaves, and the set of colored metal tags with brads is calling to me as well. Thanks again to the folks at Lickety Split for the great gift!

Now, I cannot resist a really cute image, and this little Biker Bee from Stampendous qualifies as super cute in my book. I found this little guy

at the Hobby Lobby and he basically jumped into my basket (along with that My Mind's Eye paper that is behind him), and since they were both on sale I figured I would be completely remiss if I didn't bring him and the paper home with me. I have to say, this is my very first square card and I love how it turned out! I took a cue from Faith Hofrichter (aka Markie's Mom) and copied her style of dotting up the card. She does really neat stuff and is worth checking out!

So, here are the quick and easy details on the card. I cut my card at 5 1/4" square (so that is 5 1/4" x 10 1/2" for my girls who don't like to do the math....lol!) so it would fit in the square envelopes from SU! The mat piece is from My Mind's Eye and I sponged the edges of it with Blue Bayou ink. The bee was stamped using Staz-On and then colored in with Copic markers as well as the Yo-Yo Yellow from SU!, since I wanted to get a bright yellow bee. I stamped the "Celebrate" in Blue Bayou, then offset the stamp and stamped it again with Soft Sky. Now, you can use a stamp-a-ma-jig for this, but I eyeballed it and it turned out pretty good. I added some 1/4" red grosgrain ribbon behind the bee mats, along with the words that were stamped and then cut out using the word window punch. The upper bee and mat was put on dimensionals to pop it up a bit and allow for the ribbon and words underneath it.

I made all those cute little white dots using a Uni-ball White Signo Gel Pen. This is where the grid paper comes in handy, y'all! I just lined up a side at the bottom of my grid, making sure that the two ends of the paper had a grid mark where I wanted, then started dotting away.

In total, I made 3 of these, one for my mom, one for my father-in-law, and one for....well, I don't know who is getting the last one! I want to keep it for me but then again I want to share it with someone else as well. We'll just have to see who is getting it...lol! That's right, fight amongst yourselves! (j/k....you know I would never condone that!)

I hope everyone has a great week and a Happy 4th of July! Be safe, and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim