Grateful For You!

I took these pictures of my son almost 5 years ago and always wanted to do something special with them. I finally got to this point in his album so just went for it. I think this paper in the Urban Garden pack is kind of dramatic and fit the bill. The chipboard is also from Stampin' Up!- it is in the Loads of Letters On Board Chipboard. Finally, I used the white gel pen and a bit of Baha Breeze ink sponged around the white circle mat behind the second picture, and that's it.

TFL! Have a great day!

~Kristin

Love You Much Roundup!

Today is it, the last day to order the Love You Much bundle!

Not sure what I'm talking about? Click Here: I've Been Living Under a Rock. Just kidding, I know you aren't all Stampin' Up! junkies like some people. Seriously though, this bundle is a great deal and includes some really nice coordinating features- an adorable stamp set of 6, a large punch with three hearts (that perfectly aligns with one of the stamps!) and an entire pack of beautiful 12x12 paper which has some of the same elements in the designs! I'm not always big on bundles because they often include ONE item that I really don't care for or need. NOT THIS TIME! Just to prove it I'm going to do a round up of some of the cards I've done with this set and maybe a few of my friends' cards!

Still not sure?? How about this one , or this , or this one. Check out this amazing gallery all featuring this bundle. Ok Ok, I'll stop!

Finally, these are three of the card options at my Stamp-a-Stack class tonight! If you look carefully, these three all use the same cuts of paper (besides the punches pieces) but they can be reversed and layered in a different order. Also, the heart is cut out of the same white square that is on the other two. I wanted to offer alternatives for this card to show it's flexibility.

Thanks for visiting, and be sure to let me know if you would like to make a last minute order for this bundle! You can also shop on-line by clicking on the button to the right that says Shop On-Line (just under my profile picture).
Have a great weekend!
~Kristin~

Would YOU like to be on a Design Team?!?!

Well, now's your chance! Click here for details on how to be selected to join the Diva Coffee Break Design Team! Heidi, our Mrs. Diva, put out the call so I'm spreading the word. I know many of you totally have what it takes and would be a great addition to the team! She's looking for 7 new Diva's so check it out!

Next up, another card for my Birthday SAS that is tomorrow, January 30th! Here is another use of our fine glitter, but this time with Heat & Stick powder. There are some tricks to this technique which is why I'm sharing it with my gals. What I've learned is this:

• DON'T overheat the heat & stick (until just before it is completely melted and shiny)


• DON'T use an embossing buddy. Glitter wiped off more this way.


• DO heat once more, just briefly, once the glitter is on.


• Be Patient and not afraid to experiment!

So what do you think of these colors? You may have noticed that I like to be a little different, a bit unique, march to my own drummer... which doesn't always work for everyone. Believe me I hear it from my customers when I do a pink and brown Christmas card with no red or green in site! But I think they love me anyway (and I them).

The colors started as my first attempt at this week's DCBD challenge (Lovely Lilac, Bashful Blue, Baha Breeze & Pink Passion) but it kind of took a turn towards Lilac, Baha Breeze, Lavendar Lace and Kiwi Kiss!

Anyway, be sure to stop back tomorrow as I'll have my last 3 SAS cards featuring the Love You Much Bundle which will only be available through the end of the day tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting!

~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Priceless, On Your Birthday

Cardstock: Baha Breeze, Lavendar lace, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White

Ink: Lovely Lilac, Kiwi Kiss, Versamark

Accessories: Cosmo Fine Glitter, scallop edge punch, paper snips

Happy Bird-Day!

A quick post. I'm working on designs for my Birthday Stamp-a-Stack coming up. None are final yet, but thought I'd post anyway. Maybe you can help me decide. I need 4 designs- we're doing three of each. This layout is copied from the new catalog on page 49. It doesn't look anything like the sample in the catty, but I really liked the layout.

I'm trying to incorporate ways to use glitter in this camp so this uses sticky strip and the black chunky glitter from SU.

Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Party Hearty, Pun Fun

Cardstock: Pacific Pointe, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Pacific Pointe, Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Basic Black

Accessories: scallop edge punch, black chunky glitter, sticker strip, aqua painter

A REAL color challenge! {DCBD112}

I gotta be honest... I almost begged off from this week's DCBD challenge. It was the pink- it nearly did me in! The colors look beautiful together in this pillow and picture, but once I set them on my desk together I cringed. Then I saw this card and this card and decided I'd give it one more go with this layout before giving up entirely!

Can I say I really like what I ended up with?! (Thanks Heidi!) At first I thought I'll just work with the blues and forget the pink or I'll never get anywhere. My plan was to just sneak in a tiny touch of the pink at the very end to qualify for following the rules. Turns out that's all it needed was a touch. That center panel with the pink flower is raised on pop dots and has a touch of dazzling diamonds. Other than that, I used the silver ribbon slide from the Hodgepodge Hardware with a tiny bit of Baha Breeze grosgrain ribbon, poked a few holes and called it a day!

Hope you like it. I'm considering even using it for my Birthday Stamp-a-Stack coming up on Friday!
Stop back tomorrow and I'll show you the first attempt at these colors which ended up off track, but still a keeper in my book!

Oops, almost forgot... please DON'T FORGET to check out the other Diva's uploads for this challenge! They are listed on the right under the coffee cup logo! Go check 'em out!

Thanks for visiting- I love seeing you all here and reading your sweet comments!

~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Live Like You Mean It

Ink: Whisper White, Pink Passion

Cardstock: Lovely Lilac, Baha Breeze, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Accessories: corner punch, Baha Breeze grosgrain, Styled Silver Hodgepodge ribbon slide, Crafter's Tool Kit, dazzling diamonds

Need 4 Speed!

Here is another layout I completed this past weekend. It is of a day at the local county fair. Even at 4 my son loved fast spinning rides, hence the corny title. This time I used Summer Picnic DSP, a circle punch and tangerine grosgrain by SU. The title was done with a Sizzix alphabet and the Cricut again. This is a simple layout and a good way to get multiple pictures on a page! TFL!

~Kristin

Moore Growing to Go!

I'm back from my scrapbook weekend! I'm so excited to have gotten 11 pages done. That's a great accomplishment for me considering we had kids to tend to and we really only worked for 1.5 days, and of course had to eat, sleep and chat! My "real" scrapbook weekend is in April and there will be NO KIDS so I plan to get much more done. This is one of my favorites.

Every year for my daughter's birthday I take pictures of her in my wedding dress for fun and to show her growth. This particular day we decided that my son needed to be photo'd too, so I got out a shirt and tie of his dad's. These pics are pretty poor quality (due to the camera and my inexperience with digital at the time- 4+ years ago) but they are so cute I just had to use them! The paper I used is all retired Stampin' Up- called Treehouse I believe. There is also a silver label below each picture that I've had forever and am happy to finally use!

The title I did with my friend's Cricut- man do I love that thing! However, the pattern makes them a bit hard to read so I may outline them with a marker or something?!? Still have journaling to add as well. I'll post the rest of my pages throughout the week.
Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

PS- If you live within driving distance (NW Ohio) you are welcome to attend my Annual Birthday Bonanaza Stamp-a-Stack this Friday! Please contact me for details, or just comment on this post with your email address.

A New Challenge!

If you've followed the GSG group at all you may know that we have a blog but we haven't updated it since August 2008. That is until today. I don't know what got into me but I decided to post a new challenge. This is not only for the GSG gals, but for YOU too or anyone that would like to play!

Today's challenge is to let this amazing coat I found here inspire your next paper crafting project! I did and I'm so glad- now I want to buy the coat to go with my card.

I love the airy, natural, boutique-y look so tried to mimic that with the natural card base and the same beautiful colors. I also somewhat mimicked the coat by folding back a corner of my card and adding faux stitching with a marker. I used jumbo eyelets as buttons and tried to keep the same feel with my sentiment.

First I pulled out a variety of these realistic looking stamps of nature, including the hostess set Organic Grace that I just got from our recently retired catalog. I paired it with Touch of Nature and an old old set called Flowers of Gratitude. Now you know why I don't sell my retired sets, huh!

I watercolored each of these images with an aquapainter and my Watercolor Wonder Crayons. The sentiment is from Embrace Life, framed with Frames With a Flourish.

Inside I stamped the two fern leaves and the Mother's Day sentiment from All Holidays and was ready to quit when I noticed a big smudge right on the top fern! UGH! I HATE it when that happens. So, after considering it for a few moments I decided I had to use the dragonfly from the Organic Grace set and cover up the smudge. As they often do, this mistake ended up being a good one. I really like the raised dragonfly!

Anyway, here's the inside view and a list of the Stampin' Up! only supplies. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you like it as much as I do!

~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Organic Grace, Touch of Nature, Embrace Life, All Holidays, Linen background

Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Brown, Always Artichoke, Real Rust, Creamy Caramel

Accessories: Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets, Stampin' Dimensionals, Always Artichoke Marker, Aquapainter, Watercolor Wonder Crayons in Real Rust, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie

ETA: better picture

Sketch Challenge 212

Fair warning! This post contains some non-Stampin' Up! paper and I do apologize.

However, isn't it adorable paper? I imagine it's no longer available- it is dated 2004 on the back so you know how long I've been holding onto it! In fact, I bought it specifically for my daughter's scrapbook and just never used it. Well, now I've cut into it so it's TIME!

This is for yesterday's sketch challenge on SCS. I finished it last night but was too tired to post it. I really like the sketch and am mostly pleased with this card except I wish I knew how to cluster my flowers better. I wanted to use 3 or more chocolate accent flowers next to the large one but just couldn't work it out (as Randy Jackson says).

Anyway, it is pretty self explanatory what I've done. But I'll list the current SU stuff since that might not be so obvious: Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip cardstock (retired Purely Pomegranate CS), Silver Filigree Brads, large oval punch. Stamp set is Short & Sweet- I think it is still current! The background stamp I used is an oldie (not unusual for me, eh?!) called By Definition. Oh yeah, the felt flowers are still available also and I used the Chocolate Chip marker for dots around the sentiment. So the non-SU paper is by Ki Memories (nicely labeled on the back so I know) and the patterns are called Eye Candy Rhinestone and Eye Candy Runway.

Thanks for visiting! I'm leaving tomorrow for a long scrapbook weekend getaway so probably won't be posting until I get back. Can't wait to see how much I get done! Why don't you go check out the SCS challenges and join in on one- they are great fun and a great way to get stampin'!

~Kristin

Wednesday's Diva Coffee Break Designs Challenge- #111

OK I'm done- I got my DCBD #111 challenge card done today. Heidi gave us this sketch to work with, which I struggled with a bit... then I made it even harder by trying to use yesterday's color challenge on SCS. UGH! Regal Rose (not a favorite of mine), Bravo Burgundy and Kiwi Kiss. I do like what I came up with, but I'm not over-the-top proud of it. Do you think I cheated a bit with the Top note? I just couldn't get my imagination going with a plain square behind my flower.

For this card I started by texturizing (dry embossing) the Kiwi Kiss Top Note which I had left from another project. Now, the embossing folder I used is by Cuttlebug... HOWEVER, Stampin' Up! just came out with their own version- called Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plates which are designed for use in our Big Shot! I have these babies on my first order for this new catalog!

Next up I chose the chipboard flower from one of the SU collections and stamped the Bravo dots on it with Polka Dot background stamp, then sponged some white ink aroudn the edges so it pops a bit more.

The ribbon is the luscious satin Kiwi Kiss ribbon that I had neglected to use much of lately.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by (again)! I'd love to hear what you are excited about in the new catalog! If you haven't seen it check it out (click on the picture of the catalog at the right). ~Kristin

My Father-in-Law- a legend!

I mentioned on my last post some family news that was exciting. I don't have my card ready yet so I thought I'd just share this quickly.

On Monday we had the honor of being invited to the Wilson Football Factory where all the NFL and Super Bowl balls are made. (Oh my gosh, I just found this video.) This factory is in Ada, Ohio and my Father in law worked there for 44 years! He was an excellent employee, showing dedication and an amazing work ethic, and so was honored by having the street in front of the factory renamed to Charles Moore Turn. The word "turn" was chosen because the position he maintained for the entire 44 years was that of a "turner" which is the most physically demanding job in the entire process!

On Monday we enjoyed lunch at Wilson, a press conference with at least 6 TV news cameras, a tour of the factory for the family and cake! The Mayor of Ada also declared Jan. 19th to be from now on called Charles Moore Day! Here are a few photos of the exciting day: first is Charles with the plant manager, a big dog from Wilson and a representative from the NFL. Second picture is of three of the grandsons holding the new street sign in front of the new Super Bowl balls, next is my family, then my FIL holding one of the SuperBowl balls, and my daughter in front of a bin of Super Bowl balls.

Here is the local newspaper's story (photos aren't working apparently, but they used the first one below that I took- does that make me famous??). Here is another story I've found.

All in all, it was a memorable day!

Stop back, I'll have a card in a little bit!

~Kristin

Niece getting married

Well, we've had a busy weekend which I'll fill you in on later. But for now I just want to share a card- huh, go figure! I have a niece getting married next month so I made this for her shower yesterday. For this pretty dress I combined two stamps- the dress from Blooming With Happiness and Doodle This for the skirt. Embossed in silver and slightly watercolored in Pink Pirhouette. The sentiment is from Fancy Flexible Phrases, one of my all time favorite sets! The ribbon is also a retired wide organdy. Hope you like it!

By the way, I did copy this idea of combining stamps from someone on Splitcoast. However, Splitcoast seems to be down tonight so I can't give proper credit at the moment. Promise I will as soon as I can tomorrow morning!

Thanks for stopping by! Also, if you are interested, tomorrow I will post our fun family news from today and maybe link some of the media coverage too!

~Kristin

Frosty Morning Sunrise

For today's Ways to Use it Challenge we were asked to utilize any type of color combo website or chart and choose a combination to try. Julia suggested this website which I checked. The closest I could come to the color scheme I chose called Frosty Morning Sunrise is Ballet Blue, So Saffron, Marigold Morning and Chocolate Chip.

The colors are some I'd use again, I think. The branches from Eastern Bloom are embossed with chocolate ink and clear powder. The rest is pretty self-explanatory I think. Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by.

~Kristin

I Stink You're Sweet! (DCBD 110)

For today's DCBD challenge Heidi asked us to use this color scheme: Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Kraft and Close to Cocoa. I really like this color scheme but wasn't exactly creative when I chose to do a Valentine's card for my hubby! However, I LOVE how this turned out! I saw this little skunk somewhere yesterday and realized I'd neglected him, my favorite stamp in Pun Fun! I know skunks aren't typically brown, but he's still a cutie I think.

I accomplished multiple things with this card. In addition to the Valentine for my DH and completing this week's DCBD challenge, this sketch is from today's Sketch Challenge (SC211) on SCS. I also think I might link it to So Shelli.com for her monthly contest just for fun. Shelli Gardner is SU's top dog and her blog is fun and demonstrates just how sweet she really is!

For a quick run down on what I did here... the patterned paper and the heart punch I used are both from the Love You Much Bundle that is for sale until January 31st at 20% off!! To color in the sweet skunk I used my aqua painter and ink from the ink pad lids- simple! A little embossing here, and little distressing there and voila! Best part is, everything single thing I used is current and available right now (although the ribbon is only available through January 18th).

Well, thanks for stopping by! I hope you like it. Now I'm excited for Valentine's Day to give this to him. Hope you are all staying warm in this crazy Ohio weather (or wherever you are!).

~Kristin

Ooh, forgot to mention, here's what I did inside.

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla cardstock, Candy Lane DSP

Stamps: Pun Fun, Holidays & Wishes

Ink: Basic Brown, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke (just a touch on the flower)

Accessories: Distressing tool, chocolate chip felt ribbon, Scallop Edge punch, Heart to Heart punch, Aqua painter, Vanilla Embossing Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals

I've been scrappin'!!

Yes, that's right! I spent many hours on Friday and a few on Saturday scrappin'! Working towards my January goal of 10 pages- I have... ooh, I think I did 10! I'll have to go count again. I probably won't post them all- scrappin' is not my forte. I mean, I love it and have done it way longer than cards, but I just don't feel like I'm in my groove yet and am not totally in love with every page! Also, fair warning, I do not scrap in 100% Stampin' Up! products (since my "stash" is ages old long before I met SU). I could probably say 95% SU, but not 100%.

This is a layout of my son's first day of his 2nd year of preschool. I was scrappin' at my friend Nicky's house who got the Cricut for Christmas so I used it for the title- lovin' the Cricut I gotta say! The rubons, which are the abc and 123, plus frame around the picture on the left, and "A+"and around the circle picture are all from SU's School Days Rub-ons. The yellow paper is SU's textured Barely Banana, but the patterned paper is all from CTMH I believe (stuff I got for being published). I also used SU's tab punch to make a file folder type look so I can do my journaling behind the picture of my son. (Haven't done that yet).

Next up, a page of backyard ball and my son learning how to ride his bike (remember I'm working on 2004 so he's four in all these pages). Here I used SU's Real Red and Basic Black cardstock, as well as the spiral punch, white gel pen and Real Red marker. I also used some patterned paper (right side) that has been in my stash for years. The titles are done in stickers (from CM probably) and the stamped part "Milestone Ahead" is done with the Newsprint Alpha from SU that retired a LONG time ago. Still one of my favorite alphas!

Here's another layout using the fabulous Cricut! It did all the letters, the flowers and the "I heart you" charm! Everything else is SU: Brilliant Blue, Taken with Teal & Regal Rose Cardstock. Plus taken with teal journaling marker and silver brads.

Finally, another COSI page. If the layout looks familiar it's because I used the very same for my daughter's album, just changed up the pictures and the colors out of necessity. I like how hers turned out better than the yellow here. This is totally SU: I used the Creative License Simply Scrappin' Kit, arrow punch, Yoyo Yellow, basic gray and Not Quite Navy cardstock, as well as Expressive Flexible Phrases (on the arrows).

Anyway, thanks for stopping by again. I hope this inspires you to get scrappin' if you are a scrapper. If not, at least pull out some old pictures and enjoy for a while!

Have a great day!

~Kristin

Happy with this one! (DCBD109)

Woo hoo, I'm excited about this card I somehow pulled off while simultaneously playing on Facebook (just joined yesterday). This is for today's DCBD (#109) challenge to use this sketch:

I looked at it for a long time before any ideas formed. I love this sheet of Urban Garden DSP with the flowers on long stems and have wanted to use it but didn't quite know how. Today I decided I was using it NO MATTER WHAT! The focal point is a 3 layer flower I cut out from the Urban Garden papers also. I wanted to follow the sketch with the horizontal lines across the center but didn't want to cover that much of my background paper so decided to use vellum. I'm so glad I did! For a final touch I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the flower and edges of the sentiment.

Be sure to check out the other Diva's work! They are listed on the right under the coffee cup logo.

Other stuff I used:

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Cardstock: Baha Breeze, Soft Sky, Urban Garden DSP, Vellum Cardstock

Ink: Basic Gray

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, 2 way glue, large oval punch, Horizontal slot punch (ribbon is through it) and Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon.

So glad you stopped by today! Let me know what you think- I'd love to hear from you!

~Kristin

Time To Scrap!

So it's January, holidays are behind me, now it's time to scrap! Of course I will still do cards- probably more than pages- but this is the best time of year to crank out those memories on paper! Besides, I've already set my 2009 goals (see Scrapbooking Goals in sidebar) and since I failed miserably in 2008 I am trying to get going now.

I loved THIS layout by Lisa Henke and knew as soon as I saw it I wanted to "borrow" it... well, mine didn't turn out quite as cute as hers, but you get the idea.

I had these pictures of my kids that I really wanted to scrap. Even though these were taken in July 04 I could've taken them yesterday. They still do this!

The journaling reads: "P.M. doesn't always stand for night, bedtime or post-meridiem... sometimes it also means Pillow Monsters! Very often I find that you two have gathered every pillow from the entire house and made a fortress somewhere! Fun for hours!"
If you enjoy scrapbooking I challenge you to join me and set some goals for 2009. Then have fun watching which months you succeeded or exceded your goals (and those you might not have)! This just might get you filling up those albums!

In case you are interested here are the SUO supplies:

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Wanted DSP

Ink: Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red craft ink

Accessories: Top Note Die, Big Shot, Large Star punch, chipboard (is SU but I'm not sure which retired collection), 1 1/4" circle punch, Chocolate chip marker, Chocolate felt ribbon.

PS- Oops, meant to post this tomorrow and uh, messed up now can't get it off without deleting. Well, happy Tuesday early!

Year in Review- part two

I'm back with more:

June 2008 (those gorgeous flowers helped me choose this one!)

July 2008
August 2008

September 2008 (Alcohol Wipes technique)

October 2008 (can't beat that Top Note Die!)

November 2008 (Lovin' Rubons!)

December 2008

I have to admit that some months I had a hard time choosing, and other months I only had a few to choose from! I did try to stick with SUO (Stampin' Up Only stuff, which isn't hard) and did have a few others that were favorites but they didn't photo as well. Hope you enjoy! Can't wait to try this again for 2009 and see how I've changed and hopefully improved in my stampin'!

Why don't you go take a look at what you've done this year and see how you've changed! In the mean time I'd love to hear which one you like the BEST!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin