Live, from Salt Lake City...

...it's ME! I am actually here! And save for the fact that I am currently unable to upload pictures, please trust me when I say that convention is simply amazing. If you want to see pictures, go visit Lydia at Understand Blue for up to the minute reporting.

Now, I can tell you that I got a great new tote bag today with new stamp sets in it, spent the morning shopping at Memento Mall (OH! The goodness that came out of there today was unreal!) and then went on a tour of the Stampin' Up Headquarters. All of those things combined with the fact that my hair is looking awesome out here (thank you for low humidity, Utah. Sincerely, and from the bottom of my frizzy-hair DNA's heart!) makes me want to live here immediately.

While we were touring demo support at the offices I asked a great guy named Bill if he could get me an application to work there. He told me he would! How fun is that to even think of? Of course, I would never leave y'all behind, so everyone pack your bags and get ready for relocation.

This morning at Memento Mall I met a girl in Human Resources (see, I am getting in with all the right people to hook me up here!) and one of the designers for our wonderful stamp sets. I told her I loved her. I told her I loved everything she has ever done and will possibly ever do. Then I asked her to please, please design a billiard set for my husband who has wanted one every year that I have been doing this. I hope it works! I think hugging her and crying might have been a bit much, but hey, I was emotional.

OK, that will have to be all for now, as I am about to meet up with Lydia, Neelam, and Emily for a blogger get together! I hope everyone is as excited as I am, and I'll see you all very, very soon!

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Little girls' birthdays...

...are just the best! I love it when my daughter or any of her friends has a birthday, because it means that I get to make a super cute, sparkly birthday card. This week is especially wonderful because my niece is having her 4th birthday on Saturday (Hey sweetie! Aunt Kimmy loves you!), and one of Little Miss A's friends is having an "almost sleepover" birthday party on the same day. BTW--this is the best birthday party idea ever. The group arrives at the birthday girl's house in their pj's, get their toenails painted, eat cake, and then come home before the real bedtimes arrive. Jen, you get my smartest mom in the world award!





So, to celebrate both of these special days I wanted to make cards that would be cute, a little wild, and just perfect for both of these little ladies. Are you ready to see them? OK, here are the pics:

I love the Crazy for Cupcakes set. I just love the idea of someone bringing me a pink platter with cupcakes stacked from bottom to top, each one more covered in sprinkles than the one before it. The zebra paper was the idea of my little one, who saw it in a store the other day and told me that she loved it and wanted to make some cards from it.

What you can't see in these shots is that all of the white images are actually stamped on Shimmery White Cardstock, so they have a bit of extra shimmer all over them. I added Stickles as my icing on the cupcakes and then put Crystal Effects on the cherries to make them look juicy.

There they are! I hope that you enjoyed these cute little 15 minute cards today. And on your next birthday why don't you go ahead and request a platter of cupcakes with sprinkles on them? I guarantee you will have a happy birthday if you do. Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Some more animals...

...from "Animal Crackers" have been demanding their fair share of the spotlight today. It seems that the giraffe from the set found out how to grab Wi-Fi from his spot on my display board, and when he saw that the bunny was on the Inter-web-google-twit, he threatened me with legal action if I didn't give everyone else in the set equal time.

I told them that I wanted to put them up on my demonstrator website, for the entire world to enjoy, but I believe that my initial order from Stampin' Up might have caused their servers to crash. (Hey, don't judge me. I only do it for you.) You'll be thanking me when you see my class line up this fall. So, in order to placate the cards while Stampin' Up tries to install hardware that will support my personal addiction, here they are!

Yesterday you got to see the cute, super-girly bunny from the set, and for today I wanted to show you the rest. This is my second class for this month, five cards, each one featuring a different little character from this stamp set. I had to load up on the In Colors, too. I heard through the paper grapevine that they already have a lawyer on retainer if they didn't get top billing from me. I don't need any of that kind of drama around here.

The giraffe and squirrel called out for more of the earthy tones, so I went with Soft Suede, Dusty Durango and some Crushed Curry. I was looking at the little squirrel (which in real life I'm kind of terrified of...just FYI) and thought it would be really cute if he was declaring his love to the tree that gave him that acorn.

The little penguin, having to live in the frigid cold waters down near the South Pole asked if he could have some Bermuda Bay to warm himself up with. (I apologize for the darkness of that photo...I have been doing some lighting experiments and that one just turned out...well...wrong.)

Finally, the wee little duck that quacks me up, on a 3" x 3" note card. I love how that Crushed Curry can look all earthy one minute, then you pair it up with Melon Mambo and it totally goes into a springy look. I just love colors! I hope that you do, too. And if you have this stamp set, I hope that these cards inspire you to create something adorable with them tonight! Now, back to my stamping table to work on a birthday card for Little Miss to give to a friend this weekend, then to the den to watch "Valkyrie" tonight.

I hope everyone has had a great Monday, and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Happy 4th of July...

...so let's think about Christmas cards, shall we? I know what you are thinking, "Kim has lost her mind! It is 106 degrees outside and no way in the world am I going to even think about Christmas right now."

But wait! You haven't even seen them yet! So, take a peek at the Christmas cards we will be making at my Christmas in July class this month:

See! Don't they just say, "Cool weather is right around the corner?" I thought so!

Here is a close up of the window that the little snowman is looking out of. It is all frosty and chilly. Brrrr!!! I think I need a sweater.

So, if you feel the need to come inside, cool off, maybe indulge in a great cup of coffee or some of my southern sweet tea, just give me a shout and come on over to make a stack of these cooler weather cards!

I now return you to more meteorological correct card making, with this:

This is the cute little bunny from Animal Crackers. He managed to hop out of his box the other day to remind me that he has not seen ink. Ever. So, I did what I needed to do and got him and all his cute, bubble-headed breathren out and stamped them all day today. This bunny did me the courtesy of requesting some of the new In Colors for his own, so I had to oblige. He is colored in with Melon Mambo and then matted on Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie that have been swiped over with the Melon Mambo ink. I had to add a bunch of silver "whiskers" for him since it is the 4th of July.

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun weekend. Please stay hydrated in this heat...water is your friend. And, to my new Mr. Brown...just remember...you get my order to me early, and there is a big bottle of Gatorade in it for you!

Have a happy holiday everyone, and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

I'm just saying...

...that I found this pretty impressive for any group of people:




My hubby found this as he was looking at the new TV's on Samsung's webpage. We saw one at Fry's yesterday that literally left him speechless. It was high-def to the extreme. I'm thinking these guys in Scotland don't have high-def, but they do have an extreme amount of vision to pull this trick off. On a stamping note, my open house is planned for Wednesday night, and I will start posting new cards that I am making for it tomorrow. Some of them are featuring new sets, some new colors, and some are just new designs with a few of my favorite stand-by sets. I hope y'all will wander back here to see them. So stay cool, keep yourself hydrated, and until next time, Happy Stamping! Kim