Think fresh, fun and completely distinctive!

2008-04-14T08:40:00.000-04:00

I've MOVED! Check out my new digs!

Hugs,
Kim

2008-04-10T13:53:00.003-04:00

Hi all! I am back from my long w/e and actually found time to play today! I used the diamond pattern of the new digital paper packs from the Spring Collection as my base and the wheelbarrow from Can Ya' Dig It? and the flowers from Punch a Bunch to compose the main image. I used one of the solid circles from Build a Bouquet to make the sun and was originally going to use the sentiment "You are my Sunshine" but it was a bit long so I thought if I placed "Love Grows" in the grass it would have a nice effect! The layout is from Cindy Haffner, who creates a new one each week on our member company forum, and you can check it out here! I also added some Petaloo Foam Flowers, which I am completely in LOVE with! I have a few listed on the site, and my web master will add the rest as he has time. I colored in the images using Prismacolor pencils and my *new* pink frosted glass container I got from Gina K. I {heart} it!!!!

2008-04-03T17:22:00.005-04:00

Want some CANDY?? Want some candy from CANDY??? Candy, one of our fabulous dt members, is throwing out a little love today! Punny Farm love actually, so it's not so little! Go chek it out and leave a comment for a chance to win!

2008-04-02T20:44:00.002-04:00

Hi all!!! I am finally taking a moment to post a card and the winner of the TOP TEN challenge! the WINNER IS.........Melody (lacyquilter)!!!!! WOOT!!! And the Top Ten list, for all who are curious, is:
Rain or Shine
How Sweet It Is
Essential Sentiments
Baby It's Cold Outside
Hot Stuff
By the Seashore
Punny Farm
Think Pink
Meet me at the Cafe
Boho Blossoms

Anyone surprised??? I am, but not by the top ten, but by number 11, which is Serenity Now! Too funny!

Tonight the two new sets are released on SCS, so pop by if you have chance! The sets are Can Ya Dig It? and Happy Mother's Day, both of which are on sale tonight at 10:30pm EST.

There are two typos in Can Ya Dig It, so separate, corrected stamps will be sent to all who order in a week or so once I have the fix sheets in...this set was completed in late Jan as I was frantic with CHA stuff so apparently my eagle eye was pooped...sigh...that's what I'm telling myself anyway! But, it's resolved and all is well in the world for now.

I used the Behind the Scenes set to create the stripes on the ribbon on the card above...this set will be on sale this month as we are using it for something special! Check it out!

Hope you guys enjoy the new sets!

Happy Stamping!
Kim

2008-03-24T10:11:00.002-04:00

I am leaving Wednesday to attend a Rep Show in MA, and since things will be nuts between now and when I return (at this point, it never stops being nuts!) I decided it would be fun to host a little contest! The contest is...The MFT Top Ten! Can YOU list the Top Ten sets in order???? The list is a little surprising actually, so you'll need to put on your thinking caps!

So what's in it for you??? Well, how about both of the new releases for April AND one of the new Ranger inkssentials white gel pens everyone is raving about AND a Copic Spica clear glitter pen!!! Nice stuff, huh?!

Here's how it will work: I've set up a special email account for contests, so you will email your list to contest@mftstamps.com. Leave a comment below to let me know you've entered. Random.org will pick a number and if your email listing the Top Ten is correct, YOU WIN! If not, I will keep selecting numbers until I find a winner.

I will check back on April 2nd and select a winner that morning. Our release party will be held in our forum on SCS that evening, so you'll know ahead of time if you've won.

Happy playing!

2008-03-18T15:32:00.000-04:00

One last thing...on the very spur of the moment I decided to offer a little *PROMO*...click here for deets!

2008-03-18T13:25:00.002-04:00

Hi all! We are sadly back from our spa weekend and had such a wonderful time, we've decided to take some alone time more often! The first card I made following the color challenge on SCS this week hosted by none other than our own Carole Burrage. I HAD to play along, didn't I? It's very straight forward, and I seem to be grabbing Punch a Bunch quite a bit lately since it's the perfect set for *cards in a crunch*...please tell me I'm not the only one in sheer panic trying to finish a card 30 mins before the party starts!!! Right now I only have time for sweet and simple, and the punch sets work so well for that type of card that it's all I've been grabbing! I don't have the SU colors called for, but subbed Memory Box papers that most resembled Orchid Opulance and Sage Shadow and then used Kraft to stamp my main image on using Versamagic and SU White Craft ink. I think that is still my go-to white since I've not found aything else that is quite as opaque. The little trio of cards below I am using during the sample making frenzy next week in MA. This is an event where store owners come to get a hands on look at products offered by the various rep companies and also an opportunity to take classes from the company owners and best learn how to market their products, cool huh? The projects I will be teaching the class on were created by Jen Del Muro and Lauren Meader, both of which were gracious enough to let me create a class based on the projects, and I can't show them to you just yet since they were picked up for publication! Soon though, I hope! The little sample cards were also created using P-a-B. I wanted to create a few different styles just to launch the creativity and then let the store owners take it from there! Hope you will all join us on the 20th for Celebrating MFT day on our SCS forum, it's a way to see the amazing work done with all the new sets each month, hosted by our own Jen Del Muro! And lastly...Carole Burrage and Michelle Giraud are cooking up a very cool newsletter that will go out very soon to all those subscribed on the site! BOLO...

2008-03-13T17:35:00.002-04:00

This is my before/after design assignment for Julie's class. The goal was to take a previously made card and re-do it using some of what we've learned to this point. I falied miserably! I SHOULD have stuck with the original design completely and added to that design what it needed instead of declaring a card making mulligan and going completely off course...ah, but such is life...and card making! It's not that I don't like card 2, I just wish I'd stuck more to the original design to see where I could have jazzed it up. But, it is what it is and I don't have timme to re-do it since the hunny and I are off for our first ever w/e away since the youngest was born at the SPA! SERENITY NOW for both of us! I can't wait to tell you all about it, but until Monday morning, I won't be available. Should you need anything, you can email Jen@mftstamps.com or Cammie@mftstamps.com, but I doubt there will be any stamping emergencies. All orders that could be processed have been shipped through this morning and the rest will go out Mon afternoon.

Hugs and a relaxing weekend to all!

Kim

2008-03-11T15:21:00.002-04:00

I made this for our neighbors sons first birthday this w/e! How fun! He is SOOOOO cute...kinda makes me want another...SPEW! I am taking Julie Ebersole's Simply Great Card Design course (why aren't you?) and the assignments are really great at helping me hone in on what I'm trying to accomplish with the cards I make. I am one of those simple designers...making an amazing, layered, complex piece of art is just way above me so I am thinking I am going to stop trying to force myself into a style that does not feel right as much as I might want it to be. Familiar to anyone or am I completely alone in this *quest*?? Anyway, this is meant for a one year old birthday for a tiny boy, so I thought a mix of primary and pastel colors might make sense. I cuttlebugged the dino skin using the reptilian folder (don't know what it's really called...) so add texture to an otherwise flat card and also to add a punch of color in the midst of all the pastels. I am especially liking the gingham ribbon and little cupcake! Now that the big rush of CHA is winding down, I am intent on finding a few minutes to create at least once or twice a week. It stinks to have so much cool stuff and no time to play with it...hmmpf.

2008-03-06T10:49:00.001-05:00

#2 Donna Baker....come on down! You win the Ride 'Em Cowgirl set!!!! Please email me your addy and I will get it right out!!!!!!

2008-03-03T15:26:00.002-05:00

I finally scored a few minutes to make a card...I think Cindy would've killed me if I hadn't! Just kidding! Each week she creates a new sketch for the forum and each week it grows a larger following, so nice to see her rewarded for her efforts! I made this using the new Punch a Bunch set out on Wed night HERE! The set has a frame for both the purple and pink punches, and two sets of stems and flowers, both small and large so you have some flexibility. It also has four curved sentiments that can be positioned to fit either within the purple oval, within the pink oval OR outside the pink oval depending on the look you are wanting to create. You can stamp a sentiment on both the top and bottom of the large purple oval like I did in the above card, or just one or the other! Then you can choose the small or large stem/leaves combo and finally choose between open or solid flower heads. I made an interesting discovery (to me anyway) when creating this card today...I stamped and embossed the flower heads first and then stamped the stems. By doing that, I found I could remove the excess ink from the stems that were on top of the flower heads! Cool huh? The ultimate in flexibility AND the ultimate in 10 minute cards! You can check out some of the other MFTeasers the DT girls have created by clicking HERE. I hope to see all of you Wed night, we always have a great time and eveyone is welcome! I also want to give a shout out to this months Guest Designers...such fabulous talent!!!!! Happy stamping!

2008-02-25T16:54:00.002-05:00

Hi all! I am taking a super quick break to post a pic of the Innovations Display we used for CHA featuring two kick-butt rojects by Sherrie Siemens and Pam Bassett. This photo was taken right before we loaded it into the display, (thank GOD Sherrie is tall, it was supposed to go on the top shelf and I, at under 5'3", wasn't going to cut it!) since they didn't allow pictures of the items once in the display. This was pretty much the only pic I took at CHA because I am the dork that travels with a package of batteries and her camera and never remembers to pull it out and use it! When Sherrie stepped inside the big glass case to officially *place* our display inside, I was overcome with emotion. Thank goodness my peeps were there to help me keep it together! This year has been such a wonderful journey for me and it's at times like these that I realize just how much has happened in that year. In that moment, I was so completely proud of the year MFT had and proud to be sharing it with people I've grown to know and love! My only regret is that my Mom was not there in her physical form to see it. I know she was there is Spirit, heck I'd be willing to bet she's done a lot of orchestration this past year! Having lost so much of my family the past couple of years, I find myself longing for them to share this with me. Add to that the immense gratitude and satisfaction I feel and you've got a serious recipe for tears! Since I will still be AWOL for a bit packing and shipping all these CHA orders I thought I would again offer some blog candy to tide everyone over until I have time to actually make something! Oh how I miss stamping!!!!!! (woe is me, right?) Anyhow....what about we head to the Wild West for a Ride 'Em Cowgirl set! I will pick a winner on March 5th, the day of the release party! Make sure to number your posts and add your email addy!!!!!!
Hugs to all,
Kim

2008-02-18T16:51:00.002-05:00

Barb G.....come on down!!!! Here is the winning post, "Barb g said...
Wow, Kim...this is a fabulous prize package...thanks so much. I have placed orders with at least 4 companies on your list just last week...and, I'm looking forward to purchasing your newest designs very soon! Thanks so much and have a fun and fabulous time at CHA! Barb g". Barb is the winner of a $50 shopping spree to either MFT OR any of the companies listed below! Barb, email me your proof of purchase and your paypal account info and I will get you paid ASAP! HAPPY SHOPPING!!!!

CHA was an amazing experience, better than I could've dreamed it to be! Suffice it to say there are BIG, GINORMOUS things in store for MFT and lots we will be working on developing and producing as quickly as possible! I can't wait to share all the good news, but you'll have to slightly patient...it will be worth the wait though, I promise!

I will be back in a couple to post a project and talk about all the INCREDIBLE friends I made, but for now...toodles!
Hugs,
Kim

2008-02-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Tonight is the February New Release party on SCS starting at 9pm EST, hope you can join us! I am sure there will be some surprises and much fun! I am flying out super early Friday morning to attend the CHA Show in Anaheim CA and will be gone a week so will not be posting. My laptop is staying home so hubby can continue to process orders and ship everything in a timely fashion. I will receive email via iPhone, but will not be able to respond in my normal 12 second turnaround time, so bear with me! I am so excited to meet everyone that have become my virtual friends over the last year, I hope I can maintain my composure and not appear too dorky! Anyhow, to celebrate the break in posting, I thought I'd offer some goodies while I'm gone! How about a $50 shopping spree?? Sound good? Better yet, how about a shopping spree from either MFT OR one of the fabulous companies listed below that through this business I have come to know and LOVE?!!! The winner will be selected on Feb 15th as soon as I return and then will be sent $50 via PayPal upon proof of purchase from any of the companies listed below! Check em all out to make sure you don't miss any wonderful new places, and next week your shopping cart could be paid by me! Be sure to list your post number and email!
*The Cat's Pajamas
*American Art Stamp
*Papertrey Ink
*Gina K. Designs
*Lizzie Anne Designs
*Stamping Bella
*Ellen Hutson LLC
*Eclectic Paperie
*All That Scraps
*Paper Pretties
*Or I'd even be willing to reimburse a two-year membership to Splitcoast Stampers!
These are in no particular order, just randomly listed as they arise in my snot filled head! Yes, in addition to running like mad I've caught a cold. Surely from Carole Burrage or even maybe Alma. Soon enough I'll repay them...HA!
Happy shopping!
Kim

2008-02-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

#106 Come on down! Chrystal said...
"106 We definitely need twisted sentiments :) I can't wait!" and she's the winner of the new Twisted Sentiments set that will be released tomorrow night! Chrystal, email me with your name and address and I will get it on its way!!!!!
Tomorrow night is the release party for the February sets and I hope you'll join us here! The party begins at 9pm EST and the sets go live at 10:30pm EST. I will be posting where you find the Twisted set since it is in a separate location and of course MUCH fun and frolic will be had by all! It has come to my attention that Carole has a *special* card she'll be sharing made just for the party and it's a doozy, I promise! You won't want to miss it! Thanks to all who played along to win the new set, I think I underestimated how many of you share my sense of humor!

2008-02-02T14:14:00.000-05:00

News on Twisted Sentiments: I was very trepidacious about this set since it is not my intention to offend anyone and I am the farthest thing from a rule breaker you'll ever come across! But...given that I really found it funny as did the DT contributors, I decided to take a risk and test the waters to gauge its reception. The positive response to this set, both on SCS and here on my blog, has really surprised me! I would have never imagined there were so many of you who were longing for the same thing we were...sassy, risque, adult sayings!

So, this will be released on Wed night with the other sets! It will be on the main site, in a bit of a different location since we don't want people *bumping* into it unintentionally but I will fill you in on the location during the release party on Feb 6th from 9-11pm EST on SCS MFT member company forum!

I will be back to post one more sample and announce the winner of the blog candy two posts down on Feb 5th!

Thanks to all my Twisted Sisters!

2008-01-31T17:43:00.000-05:00

OK...I HAD to add a couple of super simple cards made with Twisted Sentiments just for kicks! The first is created in a style I equate with Sweet Miss Daisy. She made some cards using this template while designing for MFT so I credit her with the idea and find myself using it frequently. I love it! So, for card #1, I combined the wine and glass images from Time for the Bubbly with a couple of the sentiments from Twisted Sentiments together to form this *equation*! I know, it's wrong, but it totally cracks me up! In the second card I used another sentiment from the set but used it in a not-so-twisted way. Who doesn't want bags and packages of stamps???!?!! Who...tell me??? So, this is what my fantasy looks like...oodles of packages from my favorite places....hang on, gotta wipe the drool off my chin. BTW - I have not checked with any of these stamp company owners, so they have not given me their blessing or, heck, even their permission to mention them so don't tell! SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH! Why is MFT up front you ask? Well, I am biased, but they really are my favorite things!
And...I gotta let you know...YOU WIN! I am releasing Twisted Sentiments, it will have it's own link and will be released sometime between now and Saturday, as soon as my handy dandy web Master has the time. We will be doing things a bit differently with the set, you will purchase it separately and the price will include first class shipping. There isn't a way to add this particular set to your cart and have it transfer to the main website, so we are keeping it simple and treating them as two different and complete entities. The deets will be posted right above the set, so take time to read it before you purchase! I will let you know the SECOND these babies go live and will still announce the BLOG CANDY winner on the 5th as listed below. I am happy and surprised and amazed and delighted to know that I am not the only one with a TWISTED sense of humor! You guys are the best!

2008-01-29T20:28:00.000-05:00

This is one of those cards that the camera doesn't do justice. It is sparkly and textured and so much of the detail is lost when the camera lens shuts. WHY? WHY? I promised I would see how Tombows worked with other papers, so for this card I used the SU watercolor sheets. They worked just fine! I did not use a brush this time though, I used the Tombow blender which worked REALLY well! I will keep experimenting and fill you in on my *findings*. You might notice there is a sentiment on this card that is a bit *unusual*. With the help of my talented DT members, who have chosen to remain anonymous, we have developed a set of Twisted Sentiments. Certainly not profane, but off color adult humor and sometimes risque to say the least. How do you feel about that? I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions here. I am taking a poll to see when, if and how this set will ever be released. I think there's lots of room for things more adult and humorous, even in a twisted and slightly wrong way, but like my friend Carole says, I am not to be trusted in matters of good judgment or taste! IF it is released on the site, it will be in a special area, in its own category. If it isn't released under the company...well....there's always ebay! Now, how about a little fun? Enter a comment to WIN your own set of unreleased Twisted Sentiments! I will pick a winner on Feb 5th! Please make sure you number your post AND leave an email addy! Happy playing!

2008-01-26T14:49:00.000-05:00

Here is my completed card using the foiling and flocking kits we carry in the store under Limited Editions. I used the girl set since I am making a birthday card for a party we will be attending next Sunday. Below this post, I have shown how the whole kits works, but blogspot apparently limits me to 5 pics per post so the finished card had to come afterward! These kits are pretty cool and very easy to use. Very easy way to embellish a card for sure! I took this pic in my STUDIO IN A BOX I received today from my friend Alma! It is SOOOOOOOO easy to use and small enough to fit under my desk so I can leave it set up all the time! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-26T14:43:00.000-05:00

Picture 1 shows the kit when open. For this card I am using the Girl Collection. Pic 2 shows an image, cut away from the image sheet and I am removing the backing getting ready to place it on my card front. Picture 3 is taken AFTER I've used my stick to rub the image tape onto my card front and I am peeling away the blank acetate. Pic 4 is of me putting the orange flocking onto the card, fuzzy side down and then using my stick to rub the flocking onto the glue already there. Picture 5 is of me lifting the flocking away AFTER I've used my stick to rub it onto the glues areas and I am removing the extra. See how easy that was!

2008-01-25T13:22:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I made this card for two special girls, just to let them know they are in my thoughts. I stamped the open heart from Boho Blossoms onto Marl watercolor paper and used Tombows to color them in. A few people have mentioned wanting a coloring tutorial with these, and I will tell you how I am learning to work with these. I have bought a few tutorial books that I thought I would share and then you can learn with me! The first two are by Krista Schneider, from Sunshine Designs. She has two watercolor books, both of which I have, and both are excellent. I think she is the Tombow Goddess for sure! The downside is she is in Canada and so this might not be the best for the budget conscious. The third and most affordable tutorial is from KT Deisgns and this is also the only online source I know to purchase the Marl (I think they use a different paper now but still call it Marl) paper that works so well with the Tombow markers. That's the only sticking point for me, that I have to have special paper to use them. Now, having said that, I have not tried them on any paper other than a really cheap watercolor paper, so maybe I should experiment a little before I make that claim! Anyway, KT Designs offers a tutorial packet that is $5.00 and you can order your paper from the same place. So if you are looking for a good overview, I would recommend this route. If you are like me and need to get your hands on everything there is to know, then get both! I certainly won't judge you! I am going to make some time this w/e to play around and take pictures of the new flocking/foiling kits we are carrying in the store so you will have a good idea of just how cool they really are. Wish me luck!

2008-01-21T17:41:00.000-05:00

I created this for both the MFTSC14 and MFT Day challenges on our Member Company Forum on SCS. I had to kind of cheat and combine the two and was nice and early (well...on time really) for one and way behind on the other. I stamped the main image on watercolor paper and used Tombows to color it in. I printed out a peice of digi paper from the Holliday Collection in Olive to use as the background paper and created a ribbon from some velvet cardstock I had lying around. The flower was made using a flocking & foiling kit which will be up on the site sometime this week, I will give more deets and a better explanation later this week. I added some stitching from It's Elemental and Setting the Stage and behold, a card was born!

2008-01-18T15:20:00.000-05:00

I promised there was a new sheriff in town and here he is! My friend Alma, the Cat's Pajamas Lady, is releasing some new stuff tomorrow and for one glorious moment I pretended to be on her design team! (She does not know this and has not given her permission in any way so please don't tell her, I am happier in my fantasy...) Every release I marvel at the incredible work my DT Members do and thought how fun it would be just to pretend to be one of them! The grass is always greener you know... Alma sent me the sets to play with and of course I fell in love since I find their style to be infectious, just pure fun, ykwim? Unfortunately, my pic of this card does not do it justice, it is quite fabulous IRL if I do say so myself! The problem is, I don't have a studio box (another strong hint). I do have a big tent contraption that is too big for my space to set up permanently and too cumbersome (it really doesn't take much to overwhelm me) to set up each time I want a photo. So...you'll have to take my word for it! I created this card for the weekly MFT Sketch Challenge and as soon as I saw the sketch with the little star I KNEW this set would be perfect! To create Sheriff Poochies new digs, I stamped him, masked him and stamped behind him with the town stamp. Given that I am a dork and didn't reach the extra 6 inches to grab my Eclipse tape, I made his mask by using cardstock and there was quite a bit of the town that I had to draw back in to make this look right. Nice work as usual. I took great care coloring his scene, I don't think I've ever spent more time coloring anything! But since it's my *DT audition* I suppose it was well spent! So in case Alma does happen upon this...I hear you might have a spare studio box?????

2008-01-16T09:13:00.000-05:00

Hi all! This is a picture of our 2007 Christmas card using Happy Occasions and the Holiday Collection of digital paper. I printed the paper on a textured cardstock at 25% lighter and since it's hard to tell in the pic, the paper says Just Chillin and there are little snowmen on it. I stamped my "Happy" on white cardstock in Versamagic Pink Petunia ink and punched it out with my largest (purple) scalloped square punch, then stamped the frame in Vivid Brown ink and punched it out with the pink scalloped square punch. I stamped the tree in Versamagic Green Tea and punched it out with the blue punch and added a little star bling on top! Tie a ribbon around the card front and viola...simple, quick and cute! Now the sad part of the story is that I didn't not have time to make dozens of these and send them all out, (why is it that I can take an hour to make a card but not ten minutes to mail it???) so I took a picture of it and emailed it to everyone...sad but true! Nice. Well...isn't it the thought that counts? Some of the DT girls made some cute projects with this set, Cammie, Mary Jo and Carole, so check 'em out! Have a great Wednesday!

2008-01-12T09:28:00.000-05:00

Good morning all! Meet Sophia...she is one of the new images from Paper Pretties that was released last night! Christie Ortman is the owner of Paper Pretties and we have been working together for almost a year now. During that time we have become friends and even though our business relationship will soon be ending, our friendship will remain. When Christie first told me she was developing her own lines of stamps I was happy for her but also a bit bummed...I can admit that right? I would be losing a good wholesale account and there would be another stamp company in the world and since I knew Christie had good taste I knew they would be cute! Christie was also privy to my unreleased artwork, things that were in production and I valued her opinion and was concerned that I would be losing a good sounding board as well. But luckily for me, my good friend Alma, the Cat's Pajamas Lady, has a wonderful outlook on things like this and after hearing it, it made so much sense that I've adopted it as my own! Her outlook is that every stamp company that finds a market and is supported in this industry financially is good for everyone else. It draws new people into the marketplace, people that will at some point branch out and explore other styles and companies. Since the core of me is basically a "there's enough for everyone" kinda gal, it was easy for me to see the value in that logic and to rapidly transition into what I hoped would be a mentor to Christie like Alma, Robert, Karen Lockhart, Gina K, Em, the Lizzie Anne gals and Julie Ebersole have been to me. This road would have been much rougher and no where near as fun and amazing as it has been without them! Each one has been free with advice and guidance whenever I have asked and often just when they sensed I needed it. That's the beauty of all of this, in a world where there is so much competitiveness that these fellow company owners, who in the strictest sense of the word are my competitors, have offered me a leg up instead of a shove down. I will always value and treasure these experiences and hope to do the same for others. I know of people in this industry that have gone about building their companies in a fashion that is far less than in integrity and in the process have cut themselves off from the very support that has been so pivotal to my success. They will never know the joy I feel by being supported by fellow companies and for that I feel very sad for their loss. So, enough of of my philosophical banter...go check out some stamps! And I *believe* sometime around the 19th of January, there's gonna be a new sheriff in town over at TCP...stay tuned!

2008-01-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

This is my entry in the Design Diva Scrapbook Challenge on SCS. I created this scrapbook page using an 8 x 8 sheet of paper from the Kiss Digital Paper Pack and my favorite recent photo of my youngest, Emma. I used the dotted background stamps from The Cat's Pajamas to create playful vines and then stamped the flowers from Build a Bouquet around the page popping a few of the large ones up on dimensionals. I *tried* 4Hounds infamous ribbon blossom but alas did not have much success...no one can do it like she does! I have to say the thing that makes this page is that sweet photo of Emma...isn't she adorable! I know I am WAY biased, but seriously folks, she's cute!

2008-01-09T08:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! Tonight's the night! The new stuff

gets released! We are having a party at 9pm EST right here, and we'd love to see you join us! I made this tag using a pearl white petaloo magnetic tag only I mixed it up (can you say opened it backwards?) and used the back as the front! Yes, it wasn't initially my *plan* to do this but as it turns out they work both ways and it gave me more space since all of this wouldn't have fit otherwise! I used the main image from the Be Mine mini which might look a touch familiar to you. It is a much larger version of the candy box in Hearts Galore. I really love that box of chocolates but it was too small to really color and play with. I also like it when sets can be combined since I think it adds versatility and everyone needs to get the most mileage from their stash, right? I thought I would veer away from the traditional red candy box and go for one of those fancy gold ones! I colored in all my chocolates with copics and then colored the box with spicas in gold. It is so sparkly IRL but alas I've not mastered photography so you can't really tell from the photo. I stamped my sentiment in brilliance chocolate and then stampes the swirls from It's Elemental to add some flair. I used gold liquid pearls on all the scallop humps (have I told you for some odd reason every time I am working on a punch set that song runs through my head? I am not exactly a fan of that song so it is quite annoying...) and on the ends of the flourish. Then I grouped a whole slew of pale pink, brown and gold ribbons together and forced them, yes that's right, forced them through the hole and made a knot. This is probably way more info than any of you needed but I am finally getting used to my ergonomic keyboard so I just felt like typing! HA! I can't wait to see you all at the *cocktail* party!

2008-01-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

This is my card for this weeks sketch challenge so ably hosted by Cindy Haffner. I used one of the new sets being released on Wednesday evening, Punny Farm. You can find out more here! So about the card...I used one of the new digital papers from the Kiss collection available now but wanted it a little softer so before I printed it out, I lightened it by 25%. I used the clouds from Rain or Shine and the little grass sprigs from It's a Jungle to create the rest of the scene and since you can't have puffy wool coats without it, I used some Liquid Applique to make the *wool*. I have had a small roll of sheep ribbon FOREVER and since the sketch challenge specifically called for ribbon I decided to part with a bit of it for this card. One can't be too careful, I might never find it again! Hmmm...if I could only create digital ribbon....

2008-01-02T23:01:00.000-05:00

This is my contribution to the weekly sketch challenge hosted by Cindy Haffner (WHOOT! She's on the DD!) I made time to play this week since it seems like ages since I've gotten to stamp anything! I had never even inked her up...well not completely true, I had to test it out before it went into full production...but boy was she fun to color! I used Tombows and then some Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils on this, the pencils moved much nicer than the Tombow ink did (SU! Watercolor paper) so maybe next time I will try that alone. I don't think I've mastered (OK, let's be honest, I'm no where close to mastering) the watercolor thing, but I figure if I'm persistant enough I will get better! We spent a quiet New Year's Eve, well, sleeping amidst the fireworks in Savannah. We took my brother and sister-in-law to Savannah to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary! My diet of course started today along with 5 extra pounds courtesy of Paula Deen. Excellent. But SO worth it! I hope everyones 2008 is off to a roaring start and will find everyone healthy, happy and prosperous!

2007-12-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Well, being the procrastinator I am I waited until the very last second to make my donation to Susan G Komen for the Mini's on a Mission Think Pink set! But at least it's completed (for now, it will be ongoing every quarter) for October and November and we raised $1172.25! Wowsers! I needed to complete it for the months I could before year end, so will continue to calculate proceeds and make continuous donations as the set continues to sell. I would't have made it in time save for the fact they allowed online donations, so here is the wonderful response I received when the payment was processed, I thought I would share it with all of you since you made it possible!
Thank you so much for your contribution of $1,172.25 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Your support is hard at work bringing us closer to our goal of saving lives and ending breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures.
Your support has helped us establish the global breast cancer movemment and build a grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Today, Komen for the Cure reaches people in more than 200 countries and is the world's largest source of private funds for breast cancer research and community outreach programs, with nearly $1 billion invested to date.Most important of all, these efforts have helped save millions of lives, making the two million breast cancer survivors living in the United States the largest group of cancer survivors today.
Because of your help, we are one step closer to creating a world without breast cancer.
Sincerely,
Hala ModdelmogChief Executive Officer
Now on to the business of selecting a winner for the blog candy! Amber Hillman...come on down! You are the next contestant...ah, come on, don't you ever wanna say that? Seriously though YOU WIN! WOOHOO! I will get your goodies out next week!
For now, have a blessed Christmas! May Santa stuff your stockings all the way to the top with all of your favorite things!
Merry Christmas!
Kim

2007-12-21T15:51:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I needed to make a gift certificate holder for my 6 yr old nephew Jacob to house his Christmas present and here's how it turned out! I used the Pearl white magnetic tags and embossed some snowflakes on the outside and then stamped them on the inside with Distress ink in Broken China. I decided the Dino-Mite set would work well for a 6 yr old boy, so I added some Liuqid Applique to make his birthday hat into a Santa cap! While I am fully aware that it is his Mom who will appreciate it and not really Jacob, it's still fun to take the time and make the effort. I am just about ready for Christmas...well, not exactly *just about* but I think I will be able to get it all done before the big day! Boy, I hope so! The Christmas before last we were hosting and come Christmas morning I was in the hallway finishing some painting. I'd forgotten to poke a hole in the bag my turkey was cooking in and heard a loud POP. Well...my brand new stove got good and broken in that day with turkey spew. I think after I got it all cleaned up I grabbed a glass of wine because I needed to relax before I had a housefull of company. I don't drink often so frankly am tipsy with a glass of wine, and by the time everyone showed up I was surely the hostess with the mostess! Any funny holiday stories you guys care to share???? And don't forget to comment below for the blog candy!

2007-12-18T12:50:00.000-05:00

WOOHOO! We are all through! Below are some pics of the new space, our make shift ribbon storage solution and some candy! Comment below to win some of the *extra* parts I found during the move including a new SU Night of Navy ink pad, Ranger Rub it Scrub it, MM sticky foam tape, slightly used watercolor stack, prismacolor verithin pencil set minus the deco pink (it was the only way I could get that one color) and 3 SU sets - Bold Brights, Furnished with Love and You Are My Sunshine! I will even pay for shipping it to you IF you live in the US!! I will pick a random winner on Christmas Eve, so you have until the 23rd to enter! Please # your post and make sure you list your name!
Hope you like the new space as much as I do, I feel SO fancy!

2007-12-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

End of Day 3: We are making some serious progress! Although it's at the stage in the game where it seems like it will never end and the entire house is completely on its head. And by the entire house I mean the kitchen, loft, dining room, family room and our bedroom! There's very little organized space left 'round these parts! The first picture is of the back wall where sets and my punches are stored, the second pic is of my desk, starting to look more normal, and the third pic is of my paper carousel my hubby built for me. What's that you ask? Well, it's a 6 foot tall spinning paper carousel that holds up to 240 different types of 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Unbelievable isn't it! I am SO STINKIN lucky! And he's good lookin' to boot! I won the hubby lotto for sure! The last pic of course is half naked Emma, cause I can't have a post w/o her apparently and my two cats VERY hard at work in the new office. Hopefully by the end of the weekend things ill be a bit more back to normal....I/m kinda nuts when my house is in disarray...how 'bout you?

2007-12-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I've posted info on order updates here, so take a moment and check it out if you are waiting on an order from the recent release! This picture is my new office space at the end of Day 1. I originally was going to convert a porch into the new office but the GC came back with a 20K bid so we went with plan B! Plan B consists of turning our formal living room into the new MFT homequarters and then walling in the porch and using it as overflow storage to help me maintain a larger inventory (with ideally plenty of stock for each release!). We went to Ikea, which after a 3 year wait finally opened on November 14th in Orlando (Yes, I do have the date committed to memory) and purchased a desk and ample storage to help me run more smoothly and efficiently. You will also notice my smallest helper, Emma, who runs like a madwoman whenever there are cameras around to make sure she's in every frame despite her loathing for clothes. Yes, my daughter is most often only in underwear. She has clothes, we put them on her each morning and shortly after breakfast they are wadded up in a pile somewhere in the house. Can any of you relate? (Please!)

2007-12-12T07:16:00.000-05:00

Carolyn tagged me! But I promise it didn't hurt a bit! I am supposed to list 7 random/little known facts about myself...hmmm...let me think...
1) My first concert was Duran Duran and all these years later (but I won't say how many) I am still a fan!
2) I have a serious handbag fetish. I don't know how it came to be but it's the only clothing/accessory item that I am kind of a brand snob about.
3) I only have one living immediate family member. My mom, dad and two brothers have passed on before me and I have only one living brother left.
4) I am still friends with my best friend in high school! I am a person who really values friendship and generally stay in touch with friends I've made over the years. I have a nice group of friends that I really value and consider myself blessed in this area.
5) I could probably live on ice cream. It is part of the dairy food group, right????
6) I have tried a couple work-at-home "opportunities" in my day (way back in the day) including being a mohair processor. Yeah, that's right...unfortunately it didn't work out. That is other than my entire apartment smelling like wet goat...
7) I get the biggest kick out of seeing how close my two daughters are despite an 11 year age difference. It really amazes and thrills me to no end!
Now instead of tagging 7 people, I am going to tag YOU! and invite you check out some new blogs that you might not have visited by clicking on some of the links on the right! Now back to your regularly scheduled program...and if you are interested, here's a link to this weeks sketch challenge on SCS!

2007-12-05T17:25:00.000-05:00

Tonight's the night! Woohoo! Hope you can join us on our Member Company Forum! WE will be posting details on how you can become the next My Favorite Guest Designer AND be offering a little something easy on the pocketbook (am I really old enough to use that word??) to say THANKS to all of those who've made this such a wonderful year for me! I am extremely grateful to each of you in more ways than I can express! So...onto the card! It was made using Rain or Shine, the main image of which Christy developed years ago and let me just say I've had more than one request for this particular image to be made into a set! It's finally here! I stamped the rain boots from the set and then added flowers from Bundles of Bouquets so they sprouted out of the top of the boots! I used the cloud and raindrop images on the background in a blustery blue and then curved the sentiment so it would fit in the scallop oval I'd used for the main image. Too easy, huh??? Well, I'm off to grab a bite and spend a few minutes with the family before the party begins! Hope you'll join us!

2007-12-01T13:49:00.000-05:00

Bonnie AKA Raduse come on down!!! You are the winner of the Baby It's Cold outside prize package! WOOHOO!!!!! Email me with your snail mail address and I will get it right out! This card was made for the MFT Sketch Challenge on the Member Company Forum at Splitcoast. It uses the Brand Spankin' New Digital Paper Pack Holiday Collection now available on the site! I printed out the blue snowflake cardstock and told my printer to lighten the contrast by 25% since the actual blue is a bit deeper and didn't work for the look I wanted. That's one of the cool things about digital paper packs, being able to control the colors based on your project! Right now the papers are live and are listed at an extremely affordable introductory rate! The other thing I used was *Cobblestone* from Earth Elements, made by Art Institute. They are different textures you can use to create different groundcovers and such to cards. The Cobblestone is really like a very chunky ground pepper. It doesn't show up very well in this card, neither does all the glitter! This card is very sparkly IRL, and there's some Fun Flock on her boots and also on her scarf as well...can you see it????

2007-11-30T16:45:00.000-05:00

This is the thank you card I made for baby Emma's birthday party(we still call her baby Emma even though she just turned 4). I have yet to send them out of course, but as long as it's sometime within 2007 I should be OK! This is a SUPER simple design, which my mass production type cards usually are, but I think it turned out to be quite cute! One of the things that made the card SO simple was that I printed off the background cardstock using the new MFT Digital Paper Pack which has just been released! I had to release them so the DT Members had an opportunity to work with them, so just decided to release them early to all! Printing out patterned cardstock really aids in the production of super simple cards and I think adds a really nice something extra! The set I used is called Icing on the Cake and will be released on Dec 5th at our Cocktail Party in our Member Company forum at Splitcoast! Each month I will be introducing a new set created to work with the Marvy Scalloped punches and this is the first of those sets. It is made to work with the Rectangle Scalloped punches and has a birthday theme throughout the set. My intention in creating these punch sets was to come up with something that made very quick and easy cards! I do not always have time to create a two hour masterpeice (who does?) for everyone and every occasion. There are also times I have to mass produce cards for thank you's and holidays and need super-simple designs for those as well. These punch sets will fit that bill and be cute to boot! The other set I used to create this is So Inviting and it is used on the inside of the card. It has a "thank you for the..." stamp with blank lines so you can quickly finish up thank you cards. You can see what it looks like here. If you haven't registered for the blog candy in the post below...do it now! Tomorrow is the drawing for the goodies!

2007-11-21T13:04:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I made an altered tin like this one yesterday but really didn't care for it, so I decided to make another and post a short how-to on what I did! The first picture is the finished project of course. It's made using the Baby It's Cold Outside set coming December 5th. It's also made using the very fist ever MFT Holiday Digital Paper Pack which will also be available on December 5th! Yippee!!!! I am such a hoarder of patterned paper and am finding the only way I'll use it is if Ihave an exhaustless supply! The cool thing about the digital paper in a project like this is that I was able to print the background sheet on plain text weight paper so that it would easily adhere and shape to the tin with little effort! 3 of the patterns are featured on this project, just to give you a little teaser! Now, onto the how's...I cut two thin strips of paper, just shy of 1/2 wide each and glues them together so I would have a long enough strip to go around the entire box. You will see a close up of this in the picture below:

Then I cut a square of the same paper, approx 2 15/16 x 4 1/4 to use on the top of the tin. Before mounting, I rounded the corners and then cut 3 small fringes so the paper would tuck in around the corners and sides of the tin. Make sense?

After the top paper was glued and tucked, I covered the edge with a thin strip of ric rac. I did this because I don't know of a way to make perfect edges and with the ric rac not only does it dress up the tin a bit, it disguises the corners! Not that they were bad mind you, just not perfect. Now that the tin lid was ready for embellishment, I decided it was time to add my handle. For this I used my Crop-o-dile and punched two holes right underneath the humps where the tin lid attaches to keep it shut. THe Crop-o-dile of course made easy work of this, don't know if an ordinary punch would work but you can try it! of course, why would anyone not have a Crop-o-dile? Hmmm....

Lastly, I embellished away until my tin was just right! Much better than my last one, that's for sure! I did try a neat trick with my flower I thought I'd share, I basically used another strip of ribbon to circle the ribbon handle already in place and then tied the knot through the flower center. I believe I first learned of this through Lauren (mytime). Clever girl!

So now that the *work* is out of the way, how about a little T-Day Blog CANDY??????? Post a comment below and a winner will be randomly selected on December 1st! What in it for you???? How about one of these tins, the new Baby It's Cold Outside set AND a package of our digital papers when they are released! How's that for a T-Day treat?!!

Hugs and a blessed Thanksgiving to all!
Kim

2007-11-18T10:56:00.000-05:00

This is for the weekly sketch challenge on the member company forum at SCS...see I told ya I'd squeeze in time for one more! For this card I used some patterned paper that I will talk more about in a couple of weeks, the Baby It's Cold Outside set that will be released on Dec 5th and Setting the Stage for the scalloped element. I distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress ink and used Brillance Graphite Black and Starlite Black inks as well. I used watercolor pencils and the aquapainter to color in the image. I used a Petaloo flower and snowflake (from Target) to finish it off! There is also some design team news for our December releases...check it out here! Woohoo girls and welcome!

Speaking of December releases....we hope you'll join us for a *cocktail* party on December 5th from 9-11pm EST for some fabulous new sets, prizes and COOL SURPRISES!!!!! Mark your calendars now!

I've been asked a couple of questions about the tags, there is a magnet inside which keeps it closed. The magnet isn't visable, and there is room to add the gift card on the left so it isn't *on* the magnet, does that make sense? SInce they are already covered in paper, you can do as much or as little as you have time for! You can stamp on them, embellish them or simpky tie a ribbon through the opening at the top, whatever works for you!

2007-11-15T10:56:00.000-05:00

When I saw these Petaloo Magnetic tags, I fell in LOVE! I mean, heart thumping love! Who wouldn't love something so easy to personalize and the PERFECT size for all those gift cards I buy as holiday gifts! Seriously! They come in several colors and have matching flowers available, and they are all on the site (well, later today) for purchase! I was originally going to wait until the Dec 5th release, but have since decided that since I started with such a limited quantity, I would add them now so I could restock if necessary before the release. This one is white with red polka dots and literally, after the image was colored, took me less than 15 minutes to put together! I used the Baby It's Cold Outside (coming on Dec 5th) and watercolored the main image using reinkers. I stamped the largest snowflake in the set on the outside and embossed it with Sparkling Ice ep. I stamped the smaller snowflake clusters on the inside in Sea Breeze Versamagic and embossed it as well. I mounted my main image to a spellbinders square using Zots, mounted the sentiment the same way and then added some Petaloo flowers to finish it off! What do you think?? Fancy enough for a holiday gift?

2007-11-12T18:02:00.000-05:00

Come check it out! This weeks sketch challenge has been posted and I am frankly getting spoiled with how many fabulous cards you guys come up with each week! I think this layout would work nicely for a scenery type card or an animal card since the cut off card front kind of simulates a door, ykwim? I will be making another card using this sketch later in the week...now that my wheels are turning!!!

2007-11-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

I created this card for the MFT sketch challenge on Splitcoast, in the Member Company section. If you haven't checked it out already, please do! Check them all out, all 8 of us! I used a new patterned paper I will be talking more about in a couple of weeks and used multiple layers to keep it interesting. I stamped the tree on watercolor paper and used reinkers to color and then cut it out and mounted it on the scalloped oval. I created the ornaments with the Essential Glue pad and some glitter! I am quite happy with how they turned out! It was certainly fun to stamp today with no particular purpose in mind other than following the sketch challenge. I've been creating some sets with the last few releases that are a bit out of my comfort zone and earlier this week (while in the midst of developing some new punch sets) about said to heck with it! I thought maybe I was better off sticking to what, most often, is simple for us to create, less of a stretch and so forth...and I almost had myself talked into it...UNTIL...I received the samples back on one of the December releases, Icing on the Cake, which uses the scalloped rectangle punches! Then I was once again in love and sure I had a new favorite set (recurring theme as you'll discover...)! So, I then thought about what my original intention had been for My Favorite Things and that was to create only the sets I wanted to work with. Because I don't know the rest of the world well enough to make sets they want to work with, ykwim? So, happily playing with my new set, I thought again about the direction MFT is heading and have decided it is straight ahead!

2007-11-04T17:53:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I am not exactly a scrapbooker...in all honesty, I think my attention span is too short! However, I took a sketch challenge created a couple of weeks ago in the Member Company Forum on SCS snd am using it tonight as they celebrate VSN! Please join us at 8pm EST!

2007-10-30T14:31:00.000-04:00

This is for the sketch challenge on the SCS Member Company Forum and for a friend who needs to be cheered up! I flipped my own sketch! But since I already had the main image cut and colored, I had to find a way to work it in! I cut the dp with a wave trimmer and embossed the seashells using Bronze Patina EP on the fab shimmer paper Sharon H. made me buy... Not too fancy, but it'll have to do!!! TFL!

2007-10-26T21:06:00.000-04:00

So when is a leaf not a leaf??? And when does ink make a difference in the effect you are trying to achieve? Well, now that I am waning philosophical... :) This leaf image is from one of the new sets that will be released on November 1st, Build a Bouquet. The leaf on the top is stamped in SU dye ink and the leaf below is stamped in pigment ink. Why am I telling you this? Well, this is important because you can use this image two different ways! One as a leaf with a center and one as the foundation for something completely different! How different you ask? Just watch a couple of samples the girls have created for the release!!! I am not saying another word!!!

2007-10-25T16:39:00.000-04:00

A special friend of mine is celebrating a birthday today, so I thought I would create both a birthday card AND complete the sketch challenge of the week! Look at me multi-tasking! HA! I decided to go crazy with my embossing powders today, using them on the flower, the brad in the flower center and the paranthesis element. I love the richness of the effects a good embossing powder creates!

I used Buttered RUm and Renaissance on this particular project, but you can't go wrong with these powders, I promise! The pic doesn't really show the depth of color in these powders, but should you give them a try, you'll never look back! Both the embossing powders and the Memory Box Studio 6 x 6 paper collection used in this card are now available in the store. The EP's I will be carrying for a while but the papers are in limited quantity only so get em while you can! These are wonderful papers for sure, but I have something new in store come December, so keep your eyes out!

2007-10-20T16:05:00.000-04:00

I am SO lovin' how this turned out! I think it's my personal fav! I used a solid circle from an upcoming set for the moon, the bats from Fright Night, the trees from Falling for You and the sentiment from So Inviting! I am tickled pink at how this turned out! It's a birthday invite for my youngest who'll be turning 4 on Oct 30th. With her birthday so close to Halloween, we always hand out spooky invitations and invite the kids to come in their costumes. What fun!

2007-10-19T09:41:00.000-04:00

Check THIS out!!!! On our Member Company forum, we are having a bit of a contest! I would love to hear your tips, tricks and most INGENIOUS MFT ideas and then right before the new release on Nov 1st random.org will pick a winner for the new sentiment set, Essential Sentiments! check it out! I have the sweetest little invite to post in a bit, but not before my trainer knocks on the door for an hour of torture.... Be back soon!

2007-10-16T09:58:00.000-04:00

SNEAK PEEK 1! So I HAD to do it! I mean really, who wouldn't? I inked up the newest sets for the November 1st release and HAD to show you an itty, bitty peek...right? I couldn't hoard it all to myself, that wouldn't be right at all, just plain selfish if you ask me. So, here it is, a peek of the two 4 x 6 sets that will released on Nov. 1st, Build a Bouquet and Essential Sentiments! The DT girls contributed heavily to the Essential Sentiments set, I solicited their opinion as I often so (they're smart I tell ya!) and incorporated a lot of thier suggestions! The coolest thing about this set is that every sentiment is sized to fit within the word window punch from SU!! Oh, I am giddy with delight!

BTW - If you haven't checked out the member company forum, you better get on it! I am having way to much fun interacting with everyone! You can find us under Forums/Member Companies.

AND last but NOT LEAST...the DT girls got together and created a set of 18 cards all using the new Think Pink set for Breast Cancer awareness, and we are auctioning them off on ebay to the highest bidder! This is not to be missed! ALL proceeds go directly to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. Jen D. thought up this fab idea and all the girls contributed, to give them HUGE KUDO's for helping raise money for a wonderful cause! See, I told you they were smart!

Click here to check it out!

2007-10-14T14:52:00.000-04:00

Hi all! There's no card to post, but I will let you in a little...OK, not so little...secret we've been up to! My Favorite Things is now a Member Company on Splitcoast! WOOHOO! DOUBLE WOOHOO!!! What does that mean exactly??? Well, I am kind of thinking about it as a non-stop, 24 hour (right, hello...I have kids!) party for all of our Favoire Things! Let's dish about products, about tools, about stamps and about life! Join us tomorrow as we kick off our very first day! Start threads about (almost) anything you'd like, let us know what you'd like to see on future sets, let us know which set is your favorite, etc! There's so much we can do and no tellin' where it will all end up, but come along for the ride!!!! Go to: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/ and scroll down until you see the new Member Company heading! See you then!

2007-10-11T10:06:00.000-04:00

My youngest daughter turns 4 at the end of this month, and this will be her "loot" bag to give to all the kids that join us! This idea came from my LSS, Stamping Station in a class that Pam taught, and I thought it would work well using Fright Night! What do you think? I will try and come up with a step by step for this, it's suprisingly simple and SO very cute! I used Fright Night and Behind the Scenes to create the patterned paper. Of course I used Memory Box paper, as I always do since I love it! Mango and Wisteria maybe??? Speaking of Memory Box paper, I have ordered some of their 6 x 6 patterned paper and will start carrying it in the store! I haven't ordered much to start with, so we will see how it goes! if you haven't tried Memory Box before, you're in for a treat!

2007-10-08T17:51:00.000-04:00

Well, this card was made for a friend undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. A very rare form of ovarian cancer that affects 10 people every year. Yesterday, she celebrated her 39th birthday undergoing a PET scan. I have been so moved by this since we are the same age and because I know her as someone so full of vibrant life it's hard to wrap my brain around. Sometimes things strike you and make you take pause to see where you're not paying attention in your own life and this has been one for me. Watch out in the future for MFT specials to benefit this family. Her hubby, a former boss, told me that this will be a marathon, not a sprint, and I think that is a wonderful metaphor. I will keep you posted! Now, onto the card...I used Bundles of Bouquets for this card as well as It's Elemental. I modified this sketch from CPS and created a layout I kind of like! Different and WAY out of the norm for me! I also played with the Cryogen White paper Sharon Harnist made me order. Yep, that's right, gun to my head, twist of the arm and all! What's so funny is how easily enabled I am by all these gals! You too probably, I am sure I am in good company! I also played with some new Faber Castell Albrecht Duhrer Watercolor pencils as well. The Cryogen White is not the right paper for watercoloring, but it turned out OK! I will have to make extra time this week to practice my watercoloring!!!

2007-10-06T09:34:00.000-04:00

And the winner is....(sound of drumroll....)MOTHERMARK!!!! The winning recipient courtesy of Random.org, nominated by StampOwl, (Frances Byrne) is Mothermark! Please send me your address and I will forward it to Christie Ortman from Paper Pretties so we can get your very own, Limited Edition, Think Pink box right out! Frances...there's a little something special for you to! I will email you and let you know all about it! No good deed goes unnoticed...

Now, about the card... I used a Fabriano note card and both the open and solid flowers on the new Boho Blossoms set (sold out but more on the way!). I used Versamagic inks in Magnolia Bud, Aspen Mist and Ocean Depth on the card front and on a scrap of white paper embossed the solid flower using Powder Keg Carnival embossing powders! They are really the greatest embossing powders ever! I am really thinking about bring them back in the store, any comments?

2007-10-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

Think Pink! I created this card using a sketch from CPS. I am really enjoying being given a template to follow! It get me out of my "missionary" position when it comes to card layouts! This is pretty self explanatory, I used the stamps from the Think Pink set and also the small stitches from Setting the Stage to add a little zing. All these girls who sew so beautifully on cards have my mouth watering every time, but I am REFUSING to sew on cards! Cause then, whenever there's a little tear in a dress out will come the dreaded words..."Mom, can you sew this?"...BLECK! (BTW - That's the same reason I avoid ironing...as soon as they know you can do it the requests never end...) Have a great day and stay tuned for tomorrow when we announce the winners of the Think Pink Paper Pretties boxes!!!!!

2007-09-30T08:53:00.000-04:00

When Christy was working on images for an
upcoming floral set (think November 1st), one of
the images she created was a solid flower, pretty much the reverse of the one I used on this card. As soon as I saw it, I HAD to play with it, but as a set on its own! So we put the other set on the backburner and developed Boho Blossoms! It's WAY outside the MFT box, but there are times when you need cards for serious occasions and whimsical doesn't work. Such is the case with this card. I recently had a batch of sympathy cards to make...unfortunately. I never like making these cards because the occasion isn't happy, but to me (and probably to most card makers) nothing says I love you like a hand made card. And maybe, when the occasion isn't a joyful one, the depth of the work is most noticed. For the card: I used a Fabriano folded card as my base and a celedon green Arturo and my main panel. These papers are so rich and elegant and simply elevate any project. I then stamped my open Boho flower in pale ink to create a background and then one more main image which I embossed with Powder Keg embossing powder in Carnival (great stuff I tell ya). I attached a brad given to me by CWilliams into each flower center which I think works perfectly with this card, thanks Candy! I stamped on my pp as well and then distressed the edges and stamped my sentiment on the right hand corner of the card. It is from the Simply Said set. I mounted every panel together and then to the front and wrapped my favorite ribbon around it all! Thanks for looking and I am off to prep for my midnight release!

2007-09-29T11:25:00.000-04:00

It's a Jungle Out There!!! I created this tri-fold card using almost all of the stamps included in this set. All that's missing is the giraffe, I ran out of room!!! I will have to make a separate card just for him so he doesn't feel left out! I am teaching this in a class on Thursday night and am hoping I can find an easy way to create the tag corners for the class kits. Any ideas? A square punch would work on the end pieces, but am not sure how to work out the middle part! I am thinking maybe tracing and cutting....or folding and punching out the stacked paper....who knows! I hope you enjoy the new sets as much as we have enjoyed them! It kind of feels like giving birth each month, but without the labor!

2007-09-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I am a day late, but I guess I will forgive myself since I have been out of town! (Disney cruise...WAY recommended!) Here are my two samples with How Sweet It Is! The pink and brown combo is cased or at the very least extremely inspired by a Lisa Johnson card I recently saw in a magazine. I knew the layout would work so well with this set I had to give it a try! I used the largest scallop punch and decorated the background with the kisses stamp in versamagic ink. I then used the scallop stamp from Setting the Stage on the botom and put a tiny drop of Liquid Pearls on each tip. I colored in the sundae image with Copics and Spicas. The second card is for a girlfriends birthday and I hope she will be pleased! The second card is for a very special girlfriends birthday, I hope she likes it! I cut off an edge of a Memory Box card, which is white inside, and then used the background stamp in brown ink to make a border. I cut the edge of the card with the create-a-cut, attached the main image to a pp scrap, and stamped the sentiment from You Take the Cake and viola!

By the way...for the new release there is a TAKE 5 special! Get all 5 of the new sets for $65! WOOHOO! Now, I am off to check out all the fab samples from the DT members! What are you waiting for?

2007-09-16T11:20:00.000-04:00

So I've been tagged! Jeanne S. over at Inky Paws tagged me, so I am playing along!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Lady Mini
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Fudge Brownie Sugar
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) KVAN
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Pink Cat
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Gail Orlando
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Vanki
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Black Appletini
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) John Big John
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Narcisso Rodriguez Jelly Belly
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Pearl Tipton

Now it's my turn and I am tagging:
Alma
Christie
and new blogger Toy!

2007-09-08T13:35:00.000-04:00

So my good friend Christie Ortman (Paper Pretties)
and I were talking one day, feeling rather blessed,
and looking for a way to give back. We discussed doing some blog candy for those who had given of themselves. Very shortly after this conversation, Christie asked me how I would feel about creating a set for charity. I gave it some serious thought over the next several days before I responded back to her. I pondered how I could make it work; spoke with representatives from the charity we wished to support with the first set and finally responded back to Christie with a resounding YES!
So, I am very pleased and grateful to announce My Favorite Things first ever "MINIs on a Mission" set, Think Pink! This set will debut October 1st, with 50% of retail and 25% of wholesale proceeds going directly to benefit Breast Cancer initiatives. Almost everyone I know has been touched by Breast Cancer in some way and although great strides have been made in recent years, this disease has taken many of the women we love. I am proud to support what I believe is a wonderful and worthy cause. In coming to the decision to go forward with MINIs on a Mission, I have to thank Gina K., whose own Stamps With a Cause was a motivator and inspiration. I know how much good Gina has helped bring to many lives with her charity work and have to acknowledge her as the charity stamp set pioneer that she is! So, here's where you come in: My Favorite Things in cooperation with Paper Pretties, is giving away 2 Limited Edition Think Pink boxes to 2 lucky recipients! Christie says, "Here's how you can enter someone special: We want you to leave a comment here or here nominating someone who has made a difference in your community. Please give us their name and tell us why you think they should receive this box. We will choose our two winners on October 5th and send their boxes out right after that!
Thank you so much for supporting us in our effort to make a difference in the lives of so many!" There will be one winner from each of us, picked by Random.org on October 5th, so enter both places to double your chances! In addition, Christie will also be donating $5 from each Think Pink Limited Edition box to Breast Cancer initiatives in Canada as well! This is truly a WIN-WIN and one I am so happy to be involved in!!

2007-08-31T20:05:00.000-04:00

It's Shower Time!!!! I have spent a good portion of the last couple of days creating baby shower invites for my assistant, Kyra, who is due with baby Jacob at the end of October. After I was finished, I wanted to create something with this set without using the main image at all! So I went a little outside the box with this card! it is definitely more of a papercrafting type card which is not my normal forte, but I am rather pleased with how it turned out! Tomorrow is the release of Shower Time and My Favorite 48 and I hope everyone has been as impressed and awed as I have been with the MFT DT samples! How did I get so lucky? I mean really!?! Wow! There are so many possibilities with this little set and it's been such fun to see the many ways they've come up with to use it. I am also excited about the pencil tins they've all come up with, and I am totally coveting them all...each and every one...aren't you???

2007-08-25T11:38:00.000-04:00

It's almost that time again! A new MINI of the month set will be introduced on September 1st, and it's SHOWER TIME! What a fun little set, if I do say so myself! It has all the makings for bridal and baby showers galore! I am posting two cards I made using mostly the main image from Shower Time, using sketch challenges from Card Positioning Systems which you can find a link to on the right hand side of my blog. In addition to the new MINI set, I am also offering My Favorite 48! A collection of hand picked Prismacolor Premier pencils selected from all 132 colors. This kit will come two ways: My Favorite 48 which will include the pencils, an alterable paint tin to hold them (wait till you see what the girls have done with theirs!), a Pebbles click eraser, a sanding block and a collection of blending stumps...(whew!) all for $75! I will also be offering My Favorite 48 PLUS which contains all of the above AND the latest MINI of the month set which will be automatically switched out with each new release for $80! But wait...there's more! To celebrate the release, I am automatically upgrading ALL My Favorite 48 orders to the PLUS kit for the first month...all the way until September 30th! WOOHOO! I am quite excited as you can imagine! I love coloring - with markers, pencils, pretty much whatever I can get my hands on (wink) and with this collection, you have all the most essential colors in one affordable place! I hope you are excited too!

2007-08-18T09:40:00.000-04:00

Here is a tri-fold card I whipped up using Princess Birthday and It's Elemental for a sweet little girl! What fun it was creating on 3 different panels! What not fun it was trying to cut tag corners on all these sides....there's gotta be an easier way! Anyway, I am completely restocked and ready to spend a few minutes this w/e creating some birthday cards for some very special people in my life including my hubby and his brother, my web designer extraordinaire, Robert! He has been busy working on a brand spankin new shopping cart for my website which will be unveiled on October 1st. I can't wait! There are so many cool options and paypal will no longer be my primary shopping cart! Woohoo! You can create a customer account and add things to a wishlist, review different sets and products online, automatically recieve updates as your order moves along, and instantly be notified of when a product is on backorder! I am so excited! It will also have some kick butt features for my wholesalers, like online ordering, so everyone should be delighted!

2007-08-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

Whew! It has been a crazy couple of weeks and all I can say is whew! We;ve been so busy packing and shipping and reordering that the time has just breezed by! For us anyway! I am happy to report that all initial orders were at least partially completed and sent out by Friday and most of the remaining backordered items are on their way today! Woohoo! All I can say is that I felt like Sally Field when she made her Oscar acceptance speech! I was not prepared for how inundated with orders we'd become, which of course is wonderful, but also a bit stressful with so many balls in the air at one time! We pulled it off with a few hitches, but all in all survived unscathed! I created this card for a special little boy in Canada who is undergoing some surgery so I hope this will put a smile on his face. We have so many wonderful things coming around the next corner, I can't wait to share them with you, so stay tuned!

2007-07-31T08:05:00.000-04:00

There's no place like Home for the Holidays! Tomorrow is our newest set release party over at My Favorite Things and I don't know about you but I have had a BLAST looking at the amazing samples everyone has created with all the new sets! I am still in awe! So, to celebrate, I am offering 48 hours of FREE shipping! Starting tonight at midnight, when the new sets are posted, (which actually might be 1am since my web designer lives in Holland and I don't want to get him out of bed too early!) ALL orders will recieve free shipping!
Here is the fine print: Free Shipping will run from midnight on Aug 1st through 6AM on Aug 3rd. It applies to US orders only, although there will be reduced shipping for all you International gals! Your rates will be reduced by either $3.99 or $4.99 depending on your order total!
And, as some sweet icing on the cake...Debbie Olson has joined us as My Favorite Guest on the Home for the Holidays release!!!! I can't believe my good fortune! So, check out her blog tomorrow (or like me, every day!) for some sweet eye candy!

2007-07-28T08:17:00.000-04:00

August is quickly approaching and so it's time to go Back to School! While our children let out a collective sigh, it's time for shopping, open houses and all the good stuff! I tried to create a little schoolhouse scene complete with desk and wood flooring, I think I need more practice and confidence free hand drawing! I finally got smart and used one of the doodle images from Setting the Stage (using only the lined part of the image) to create the wood grain effect which worked nicely when I wasn't using an ink way too dark for the accents! Well, next time it will be more successful! I don't know about you but I get so nervous trying to freehand things!! You can't tell from this angle, but the desk is popped up as is the globe, books and apple. So there is a bit more depth to the card than the picture portrays! I am busy preparing for the new release, I hope everyone gets as excited about these new sets as I am!

2007-07-27T08:30:00.000-04:00

I created this for DTGD challenges on SCS in celebration on their 3rd birthday for Fan Club members only! If you aren't familiar with SCS, you better run and check it out! It is the most amazing stamping community in the world!
This card was a combination of a few challenges since my time was limited, namely, Easy Elegance, use only Clear Stamps (easy for me!) and a sketch challenge to a limited degree.
I used a sentiment from Lotsa Love and framed it with this cute Heidi Swap frame I picked up at Joanns, and after I added this lovely Amy Butler paper trimmed with my Create a Cut, I stamped it with the faux stitching stamp from It's Elemental since sewing is SO not my thing! Bad Sherry inspired all these faux stitching stamps, by the way, she can and does sew beautifully, but I WILL NOT SEW ON CARDS! I can't justify it since I won't sew on clothes... Anyway, I added some rhinestones for bling down at the bottom and tied both organdy and silver cord around the card and added some white beads to the end of the cord. I don't have room yet to set up my fancy lightbox so the pic isn't the greatest, but the card is actually quite nice IRL! Now...who will receive it???

2007-07-25T15:02:00.000-04:00

Lauren, (mytime) emailed me yesterday and told me to check out Nichole Heady's blog, http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/. I did, and was literally moved to tears. Nichole had recreated the recent Rockin' Girl Blogger icon and titled it to read Rockin' Girl Entrepeneur. She then gave a heartfelt, eloquent and utterly moving post on what she sees as an optimistic shift in the stamping industry. How smaller, independent, women owned companies are making a dent, a serious dent, in an industry previously dominated by large companies. How she is proud to be part of that change, and then mentioned other woman she felt were also a part of that change. She mentioned me. I was and am so overwhelmed to see myself included on that list of women I so admire and respect. To say I am honored is not enough, to say I am thankful is just plain hollow sounding. I know of all these women, have been customers of most of them, have conversed with a few of them and all of my dealings have been accompanied by such openness and warmth. I hope someday to do the same for a fellow business woman. I hope to repay the gifts each has given me. I am very passionate about this little company I am growing, I live and breathe it every minute and have taken many risks to make this a reality. I oftentimes look at my husband and ask him "Guess what? I own a stamp company!" Not from a place of egotism, but from a place of deep gratitude and humility. I love this company, the people it affects, the relationships it has allowed me to form and the prosperity I intend it will one day bring my family and those around me as I will most certainly pass it along. Thank you Nichole, for your post, for your inspiration and for your incredible generosity. You have made a friend for life! In the same spirit, I have a couple chicks I'd like to nominate as well! Alma from The Cat's Pajamas, http://www.thecatspajamasrs.com/. She is just one of my favorite people! We have monthly conference calls and I just love it when I know it's her on the other end of the line! You go girl! And Christie Ortman, http://www.paperpretties.net/, another one of my favorites! She is just too cute and I love chatting away about stamps and life and building new companies while juggling it all! I saw Linda from Amuse was already mentioned, and even though she's not a business owner per say, I have to mention JulieHRR, http://papertrufflez.typepad.com/, who has ALWAYS made time for me and given me the most sage advice I've ever received. I would do anything she asked me to do (provided it was legal, wink!). And this Rockin' Girl thread would not be complete without a thorough and sincere thank you to all the women behind the women who make this work seem effortless. For me those women are my concept designers and my customers. Those who design for me, each on is priceless and someday I hope and intend to pay them what they are worth to me. And without the women who support me with each new release and every day in between this wouldn't be happening. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2007-07-22T10:07:00.000-04:00

I made 5, yes, 5 cards yesterday!!!! Unbelievable! Some I can't share because they were made for submissions and some are new releases you'll see in a few days, but boy did it feel great! I can share this one though...I made a little pumpkin patch scene using the fall and halloween sets and of course the SU pads/reinkers Kittie has me hooked on (at least for this week!).

On August 1st there are 3 new sets coming out AND a new MINI set, Back to School! MFT will be introducing its first ever man set called Let's Hear it for the Boys and I am so excited about this one! I hope you will be too!

I am considering kicking off the release with 48 hours of free shipping...what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

2007-07-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to playing with my new SU pads and reinkers since Kittie enabled me, so I created this sweet little farm scene! I also just got back from a visit to my family in VA who live and work on a beautiful farm so this seemed quite fitting! Since I can't freehand draw like Kittie (who can, really?) I decided to use stamps to create the scene, so I pulled out the little fern from the watercolor minis set Kittie uses to create greenery but then created the fence using the long faux doodling stamp in Setting the Stage as well as the little greenery stamp in that same set. I used another faux stitching element from an upcoming set, It's Elemental, which will be released on August 1st to add a bit of interest! Lastly, I used a marker to color in only the text portion of the Special Delivery stamp in the Baby First set and popped it up!

Hope you like it, I think it's quite sweet!

2007-06-28T15:26:00.000-04:00

Wanna have some fun? Wanna win a really cool prize??? Check out Jen's blog http://iheart2stamp.com/, and Taylor's blog http://www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/, for a chance to win ANOTHER set of HIT THE BEACH by answering some cool MFT trivia questions! How incredibly creative and fun! Do I have the best team or what???

And speaking of team...stay tuned...!

2007-06-26T10:41:00.000-04:00

We have a winner!!! ALEX (aka sillybird) please contact me at kim@mftstamps.com with your address so I can get out your goodies!!!

We had a fabulous time as you can well imagine at Stampfest Orlando!

I met Kittie747, KristiLyn, lovinmy4boys, ked, and a ton of others in person with whom I'd only chatted either via email or phone, not to mention my "house guests", BadSherry and Jeanne S!

Here are Sherry, Jeanne and my good friend Jamie in their "uniforms" assisting me with the make -n takes on Friday night. We had a fabulous time and I can't wait until our next visit!!

I will have some wonderful new designer news to mention soon so stay tuned! You won't want to miss it!

2007-06-08T08:19:00.000-04:00

So now seems like a great time for a SUMMER TREAT! Since I will be tied for from now until my company arrives, (yes MY company as I am claiming them all to myself for the first part of their journey) I decided it would be a great time to let the comments accumulate and give a little goodie away in the process! So how about an MFT care package including the next MINI set up for release called Hit the Beach? Woohoo! There will be other goodies in the care package as well...maybe even a handstamped card by one or the other of us depending on how much actually gets accomplished while they're here. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and June 25th. The winner will be randomly selected on June 26th! How simple is that! Good times will be had by all, that's for sure! We will have some pics to post of the three of us having some good clean fun while they are here, but right now, I am off to prepare like a mad woman for STAMPFEST ORLANDO! Hope to see you there!

So...someone asked WHO my company is???? Hmmm...should I give it away??? Well, there are two of them; one from TX and one from IL. One likes to stamp barefooted, is a coloring hurricane and one is BAD, has inspired me to doodle but even though she does it beautifully, I WILL NOT SEW ON CARDS...need I say more?

2007-06-07T07:46:00.000-04:00

In a little less than a week, our Halloween and Fall sets will be introduced! Hurray! Fright Night and Falling for You are sure to be a great addition to the MFT collection and we are so excited to show you what our fabulous designers have been busy at work creating! It will all be unveiled on Splitcoast on June 13th, so stay tuned! For now...here's a sneaky peek at what's right around the corner...Happy Haunting everyone!

2007-06-03T08:59:00.000-04:00

We have winner(s)! Well the card contest was a success! At least for me anyway! I received so many GORGEOUS samples I am beside myself! My youngest daughter, Emma, who was my assistant in the name drawing portion of the contest was a bit indecisive and we ended up with 3 winners! So we decided on a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finish with each winner receiving either 1, 2 or 3 comp sets of thier choosing! Lucky for them 3 yr olds can't make up their minds! So, congratulations Kathleen Flanigan (from Australia), Joanne Basile and Nicole Cooke! All have been emailed and I am waiting on their set selections! Have a great, relaxing Sunday!

2007-05-29T22:55:00.000-04:00

I was tagged by that crazy coloring lady Jeanne S! The object of this game is to answer the questions with one word answers.
You can only type one word. No explanations…
Yourself: blessed
Your Partner: warm
Your Hair: blonde
Your Mother: wise
Your Father: hard-working
Your Favorite Item: purses
Your Dream Last Night: didn't
Your Favorite Drink: appletini's
Your Dream Car: MINI
Dream Home: spanish
The Room You Are In: kitchen
Your Fear: loss
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: here
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: family
You’re Not: organized
One of Your Wish List Items: organized
The Last Thing You Did: ship
You Are Wearing: pj's
Your Favorite Weather: spring
Your Favorite Book: inspiration
Last Thing You Ate: turkey
Your Life: wonderful
Your Mood: content
Your Best Friend: christi
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: sleep
Your Car: MINi
What Are You Doing At The Moment: ???
Relationship Status: married
What Is On Your TV: nada
What Is The Weather Like: dark
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: today
Here’s my list of people I tagged: I came up with 3 that I hadn't seen tagged in this round of blog tag...if I find more I'll add 'em!
Alma, Sherrie, Rebecca,

2007-05-24T13:02:00.000-04:00

I am always amazed at the creative genius at work! I received more entries today for the card contest, this time from Nicole Cooke from NJ. I have decided I am the real winner in all of this! And that these cards are not going anywhere other than my sample book for all the world to see. Again, the pics do little to capture the beauty of these cards, so you'll have to take my word for it! The Say Charge card is edged in glitter and it looks SO cool!!! I love em both and you would to if you were here and I would share them with you...but you aren't...and I wouldn't!

2007-05-23T08:22:00.000-04:00

I got this ultra delicious card yesterday as an entry for the card contest ALL THE WAY from AUSTRALIA! Can you believe it!!! Isn't it TO DIE FOR!!! I had to post a pic, which of course does not even come close to doing this beauty justice but it'll have to do for now! There is still time for those who would like to get in on the action, the details are listed on the right hand side of this blog. In reading the back of this card, it appears that the artist, Kathleen Flannigan, hand shredded grosgrain to create the fringe rug around the tub! Can you believe the detail! Whoa Nelly! I am immediately taken back to childhood dollhouse days with that kind of detail, how about you! Well, now that you have ample eye candy for the day, I am off to work!

2007-05-15T16:54:00.000-04:00

COPIC CIAO HEAVEN!!!!! Sets 36 A and B are now listed on the site, in special order status and ready to go! They are on the Ink It Up tab, and my web designer even custom made color charts for your ordering ease! I do have several sets coming and even if there are more sets ordered than I have, they get to me in about 3 days, so there is very little down time even if they are not in stock. When my web designer gets back from his vacation (the nerve!), we will upload sets 36 C and D as well, but this was all we could muster before he left! Enjoy everyone and very happy coloring!!!!!

2007-05-15T10:44:00.000-04:00

Get a load of my Mother's Day goodies! Add to this a huge gift basket full of things like dark chocolate truffles, chocolate covered espresso beans, bath creme, body butter and the like and you can see I was well taken care of! My oldest daughter snuck off to the neighbors house to bake my cake and snuck upstairs to my happy place to make my card (isn't it the coolest!). My hubby cooked up a fab feast and my youngest gave me the sweetest kisses ever. Life is good!

2007-05-11T14:42:00.000-04:00

I have fallen madly in love with these markers. I am sure you can see by my posts how frequently I gravitate toward them for my coloring needs and grow a little more confident with them each day. I have been thinking about carrying them but wanted to be able to offer an extremely reasonable price since they are a bit of an indulgence. So, since I am a by the rules kinda gal, I spoke with my wholesaler to make sure that I have discretion over pricing, and...drum roll please...I am clear for take off! I will be offering sets 36 A and 36 B in stock for $115 each including shipping and will special order 36 C and 36 D for the same price for those (like me) who can't live without all 144 colors. How's that for good news! I will try and have them up on the site within the next few days, but my initial order will be on interest, so drop me a line to reserve a set if you are interested!

2007-05-10T09:11:00.000-04:00

Another class sample with those fantabulous Copic markers! I hear that sometime later this year there might even be a DVD teaching how to use the darn things...I will SO be first in line for it! This card was created using the new You Take the Cake set, I cut some patterned paper with my Create A Cut, distressed it with Scattered Straw using a cotton make up pad and doodled...only slightly but I am getting more adventerous! Sherry just inspires me so with her doodling I have to push myself! As a funny side note, I was showing a recent card to my hubby and pointing out where I had doodled and how I "wouldn't quit my day job..." then I caught myself and started laughing...this IS my day job! It's my JOB to learn to doodle! Oh sweet mysteries of life I've finally found you (way old reference most of you are too young to get)! Again I found myself grabbing the Doodlebug Sugar paper and ran it through the Cuttlebug to create this fab sparkle flower, and ran through a Vanilla Bean panel from Memory Box with the dots folder and then ran the New Canvas ink down the center to give it some depth. I stamped the blue background paper with the dotted stamp from the Behind the Scenes set to just jazz it up a bit and then added some glitz with the Sakura glaze and starburst pens I seem to grab so often. I added one last little detail with a Doodlebug yellow stone in the flower center and called it a night!

2007-05-08T16:32:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged! Some chick named Alma that I barely even know decided to tag me! HA! I SO crack myself up! Alma is The Cat's Pajamas Lady, and I had the pleasure of meeting her recently and hope I didn't make too big a fool of myself in my starstruck state! (Skyesmom also tagged me a while back, but for wahtever reason I couldn't access her blog and didn't know it...) I am supposed to list 7 things you don't know about me. I am going to go the really out there route: 1) I was once an at-home Mohair processor. Details will follow in another much longer post. Needless to say, it didn't work out. On many levels. (Mohair is female goat hair for those unaware) 2) I once had a first date with a man (word used loosely) that was literally crying by the end of the night. No, I didn't hurt him, he was crying because he liked me more than I liked him. 3) When I was in first grade, I beat up the sixth grade neighbor boy who lived across the street. His mother politely rang our doorbell and told my mother that her 6 yr old daughter had beaten up her 12 yr old son. Good times. And yes, I did hurt him. 4) I like toys. I like to have the newest, coolest stuff. I don't know why, maybe my therapist does... 5) I have a lot of friends and the friends I have are friends for life. I seriously am still friends with my best friend from high school! I consider myself to be very loyal and very genuine. I think given the incredible quality of people I attract into my life I must be onto something... 6) I was married when I was 17. I was given a puppy for a birthday present and my mom wouldn't let me keep it so I threatened to move out. She said I couldn't move out until I got married. I got married.
7) Two months after I got married the apartment complex changed their pet policy and the dog was no longer allowed to live with us...guess where she moved in? My parents house.

2007-05-08T07:37:00.000-04:00

I was working on some card samples for a class I'll be teaching in May featuring the ever popular Copic Markers! The card layout is pretty simple, but the real focus of the class is to learn more about working with the fabulous coloring tools! Everytime I learn a new trick I about jump out of my skin! When I put enough "tricks" together I will send em along your way! I will tell you though that you can get great, no bleed results from Brilliance Graphite Black and Adirondack Pitch Black inks. Both require a small (a few minutes) amount of dry time but both yield wonderful results. You can use Pallette Hybrid inks as well, I just find it hard to get an even impression on large images with that ink which is why I shy away from it, I just plain have to work too hard! I have also used Versafine with much success, but it requires much more drying time. For this little guy, I cut a piece of simple patterned paper, distressed it with Scattered Straw ink using...get this...a round cotton make up pad! In my little world, when I try and use sponges, I just end up with the ink colors combining for a mottled mess so I thought I would try the disposable version and it works! Yippee! I then stamped my scallop outline stamp along the top of the paper and hit the tip with Sakura Glaze pen in black to make little dots. I colored my stego in using Copic markers, added a cupcake image and lots of other Sakura pen details with the Glaze and Starburst and he is ready for class! Speaking of class...stay tuned for the announcement of the next MINI set...

2007-05-03T11:22:00.000-04:00

Clip it up! I received my Clip It Up yesterday and took some time to get all of my stamps organized! How cool! All of my clear sets are now at my fingertips on a rotating base! I am considering carrying them in the store, and would appreciate feedback/interest. The bottom base retails for $60 and the upper retails for $35 (approx). This picture holds both, they also come with envelopes, none of which are featured in this pic since I am displaying stamps only. Pretty cool huh?

2007-04-30T08:34:00.000-04:00

Lookin' for some Hot Stuff? This set will be out on June 1st so get ready! It's just about to ship to all the Paper Pretties members and then it will be available to all! I made this card using Memory Box paper (of course) and my Create-A-Cut. The images are colored with Copic Caio markers, which I am totally loving BTW!

2007-04-24T15:08:00.000-04:00

Sweet & Simple! I am making card samples to send to all the stores that pre-ordered the new sets when they ship tomorrow and am quite pleased with how this came out! It is much richer IRL! I took the open ribbon stamp from the Setting the Stage set and stamped it in Pink StazOn Opaque. I then masked it, and stamped the open stripe from the Behind the Scenes set over the "ribbon" in Sepia from Versafine (my favorite ink for working with clear stamps by far). I then used the doodle image from Setting the Stage and randomly stamped the top portion of the card and added some Stickles to add a bit of pizzazz! On a separate piece of white cardstock I stamped the Thank You image from Behind the Scenes and then the solid flower image from Bundles of Bouquets. On a Vanilla Bean (Memory Box) scrap I stamped the faux stitching element from Setting the Stage and then in Sepia stamped the other faux stitching element in Sepia around the flower border. Voila! A card using as many stamps as I could muster!

2007-04-19T16:34:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged!!!! How cool! Let's see...I can only list 5 huh? Well, let's see... there's mytime http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/, I got a chance to meet the Meader's at HOB in Orlando recently, what a wonderful family! And of course who doesn't love the Dino-Mite bday set she created for this months DD gallery. Then there's http://www.twisted-chick.blogspot.com/, flaxychick on SCS and newest DD member! Congrats! I can't forget my stamping Goddess, Julie, at http://papertrufflez.typepad.com/, then Ellen at http://www.ellenhutson.typepad.com/, and I've gotta say #5 is a toss up between about 4 people! So, not last and certainly not least I would list http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ if for no other reason than I have looked at this blog probably 100 times this week drooling over her tri-fold card made with the Time for the Bubbly set! You have to seriously check it out...but have tissues handy I tell ya!

2007-04-17T18:31:00.000-04:00

I had some time this afternoon and got a little crazy! It was SO nice to make something just for me...although I made 3...does that still count?? HA! I love how this turned out! I made a cloud template out of paper and sponged ink around it with a dauber to create my sky and, brace yourself, I doodled!!!!!!!!!!!! Heavens! Only a bit, adding depth under the items in the sand but hey, it's a start!

2007-04-17T12:56:00.000-04:00

I Wanna Soak Up the Sun...

I have been singing that song all morning as I was creating this little baby! Now that registration has passed to receive the May Paper Pretties box, it's time to show a little skin, er I mean give a little hint about the what's ahead for the June box! So...here is the very first card made with this set EVER! How fun! The new set is called Hit the Beach and will be available in the PP June box and to the rest of the world July 1st! I will try and take a pic at a different angle later when my hubby, er I mean photographer gets home! hehe!

2007-04-16T20:41:00.000-04:00

Even though I had to surgically unattach him from his chick partner, this pink bunny is ready to roll! (no animals were harmed in the making of this card) wink! I just love this guy! This card is so unbelievablly simple that it certainly doesn't need directions, but I did manage to sneak a scallop in there with my Create-a-Cut!

2007-04-14T20:49:00.000-04:00

Pretty Princess! I created this card using my Princess Birthday set and my new, as yet unreleased Setting the Stage set! I created the solid scallop border using the solid stamp and StazOn opaque ink in pink and then stamped the outline scallop in the Essential Glue Pad and added some glitter. Super simple but I LOVE the effect!!! I loves me some scallops, that's for sure! I am using a heavily textured white paper on this card so was quite pleased at the full coverage the StazOn Opaque gave me.

2007-04-14T20:46:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics of my packing/shipping "warehouse" and my still reasonably organized (to me anyway) desk! Yippee! I have been way busy making store samples today...I think I am up to 40 or so, unbelievable! Will post a pic of one of my faves next!

2007-04-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

So what happens when your youngest daughter spends time with her big sissy and 19 yr old cousin on Easter? You end up with some funny as heck pics that's what! They were trying to get her to pose gangsta style and let me tell you how many times this week she's tried to pull this look on me! WAY too funny! Gotta love girls!

2007-04-11T17:20:00.000-04:00

So my "home office" aka loft is undergoing a major transition this week! I have quickly run out of my half of the room and encroached on my hubby's half to the point where it slightly resembles an 1/8th so it's time for an emergency extreme makeover mft edition! First up was removing a bakers rack I was using as storage and installing a silver peg board wall where ALL of my sets could hang in delightful glee instead of being crammed sardine style into bins. Next up was to declutter my way too small desk (yes, this is the after picture, stop laughing) and tomight we begin the transformation from ordinary closet to package processing central! Pics will follow! When we have completed everything we are doing in phase one I will show you before pics of just how much (or little depending on how you look at it) room we had cornered ourselves into!

2007-04-07T08:36:00.000-04:00

I am quite pleased with how this card turned out! I used my Scor-it to create a channel and then stamped the shopping bag in the Say Charge set along the side in Opaque StazOn highlighting the handles with Starburst Clear pen. I stamped the sentiment and shoes and then used the Galaxy white marker to color in the shoes. I used a paper piercer and white gel pen to faux stitch and then tied a Prima embellished ribbon around the image with a dot of stickes in the middle for bling! This is the first image I colored with my new Copic Ciao's, I will begin exploring with paper and ink types to find which work best under the guidance of the Copic Goddess herself and will let you know what I find out! Happy Easter to everyone and a blessed spring ahead!

2007-04-03T09:56:00.000-04:00

Then comes the baby in the baby carriage! This card was made using the Baby First set due out late this week/early next. I am in LOVE with the idea of putting the images inside the "special delivery" frame, it just makes me smile! I am playing around more with my Create-a-Cut, if you don't have one yet you better run on over to Ellen's and get your own! I was so proud of myself for the embellishments on this card, not to toot my own horn or anything crazy like that but sometimes it just all comes together and works -ya know? This card, for me, was one of those times! I love the little punched dots on the top "awning", that just made me so happy!

2007-04-02T21:55:00.000-04:00

I am so loving this new wedding set, Going to the Chapel! I have been playing all day with my new Copics, getting the lay of the land since I'll be teaching with them, and am just loving the results I am getting. So much so that I am out of ink in my lightest gray pen! Boo! How did that happen...oh yeah...dinosaurs... Anyway, this card was made using the wedding set and the copic markers and then I had an epiphany and put liquid pearls on my ribbon! What a fun embellishment! The colors are a bit off in the photo, but IRL this card rocks and I love it! For those interested in participating in the "card sample contest" please email me at kim@mftstamps.com for address and details! Oh, I can't wait!!!! The contest ends May 31st!

2007-03-28T08:04:00.000-04:00

A BRILLIANT woman (thanks Maryann!) gave me a great suggestion that I would like to implement. As I keep growing, I am facing an increasing demand for sample cards to include in orders to the stamp stores that are carrying my line. She suggested a "Sample Card Contest" during which all who feel like entering can mail me as many, or as few, sample cards made strictly with MFT images as they would like. With each card sent they would enclose a small piece of paper with their name and email address which would go into a drawing. At the closing of the contest, one name will be drawn and the winner can select 3 MFT stamp sets of their choosing! How cool is that! This is not a competition, the winner will not be selected based on whether I choose to use their card, it is simply a little contest and the winner will be randomly selected on absolutely no criteria other than having sent me a card!

So, what do you think? Does this sound like fun? Something you'd want to participate in? Let me know!

2007-03-27T08:02:00.000-04:00

So I posted some quick pics yesterday but then had to get busy shipping! Which I also have to do today as well, but thought I would give a quick report about my trip to beautiful MA. Of course my stamping eye candy was there, but the excitement of now being his "peer" (although I doubt he'd see it that way) was far overshadowed by getting to meet and hang out with Alma from Cat's Pajamas!!! Doesn't she have the coolest stuff?? Yippee! She was there incognito assisting another vendor, and both she and Robert from American Art Stamps were my heros as I scrambled to get packed within a 15 minute time frame before my shuttle arrived (which was late so I could've taken my sweet ole' time). So a HUGE thanks to both of them!!!
As we celebrated a successful sample frenzy with Appletini's, we looked outside through the window in the bar and it was snowing!!!! SO beautiful! Being a native Floridian, it's not a sight I see often so really treasured it. It wasn't enough to create any havoc for anyone so it was just perfect and I actually got to make a snowball!
All in all, I had a wonderful trip and was warmly greeted back home by my handsome hubby whom I was so glad to see, and two sleeping angels when we arrived at the house. I'm sure they missed me...right?