Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop

Hello friends!

I am so excited to be participating in the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop! I do love my coffee. I have to do the decaf though, because caffeine makes me crazy :p

So here's what I did! It's pretty easy to make a winter themed coffee card, with snowflakes and candy canes and all the cold weather stuff, but I was kind of stumped at how to pull off a Spring coffee card? All I could think of for spring, were flowers and bunnies?? So I colored some flowers and a bunny and I decided to do this little bear too, and when all was said and done, I liked the little bear by my coffee cup the best :) Looks pretty springy to me!

Everything was colored with Copic markers and cut out with matching dies. I sponged a little Milled Lavender Distress ink on the background for a little coffee warmth :)

Supplies:

Cup of Wishes - Mama Elephant

Carnival Cupcakes - Mama Elephant

Carnival Toppers - Mama Elephant

So you need to play along with the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop! There are so many amazing sponsors!

Just by making a card and uploading it to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers site, you are entering in for a chance to win something from any of these wonderful companies!

There are also flash sponsors that will be giving away prizes during the hop!

Just so much fun!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop if you're hopping! :)

Kay :)

Paper Smooches Design Team Blog Hop

PS DT Blog Hop

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the NEW Paper Smooches February release with you!  TWO new stamps and TEN new dies will be available to purchase on February 28th at 8:00pm pacific time. Once our release goes live, you will find our new products HERE.  

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! 

The prize - a $25. gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store.

Here are the details:

• FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog to win the $25. prize.
• Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed below or the PS blog for your chance to win!  (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your changes) 
• Deadline: You have until midnight PT on Sunday, March 1st to leave a comment. 
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, March 2nd to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners.  

Ashley Marcu

Emily Leiphart

JJ Bolton

Jocelyn Olson

Kalyn Kepner

Kay Miller (me)

Laura Bassen

Laurie Schmidlin

Michele Boyer

Pamela Ho 

Teri Anderson

To increase your chances of winning:

• Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop
• Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop
• Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to three extra chances to win on each blog)

My tag features the adorable new Luminous Spring Stamp set! 

There are so many cute designs in the set! I could have made hundreds of cards with it!

I colored everything with Copic Markers. I stamped the rainbow and clouds directly onto my tag, then stamped another set of clouds to cut out and add with foam tape for some dimension. The sun and little bird were popped up with foam tape as well.

Paper Smooches Products:

Luminous Spring (available to purchase on February 28th at 8:00pm pacific time)

Spectrum icon dies

A Magical Spring Stamp set and dies

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have fun along the hop!

Hugs,

Kay :)

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Hello Friends!

I"m excited that I got the chance to play along with the Papertrey Ink Blog hop this month! I always want to, and try, but it seems like I end up waiting until the last minute and then don't have enough time to get something done.

This month they had this beautiful inspiration photo to get you started. I took many things from this photo. I used the colors, the quatrefoil pattern and the blended look too!

I first cut out the Quatrefoil cutting plate then used it as a stencil to sponged a little distress ink on a watercolor paper panel. I started with Picked Raspberry at the bottom,  Shaded Lilac in the middle, and Peacock Feathers at the top. The bird, the flowers, and the leafy branch were cut out using the Songbird dies from some paper that I had previously sponged with those same colors and spritzed with water.  The leaves I glued down flat to my watercolor panel, the birds and flowers I used foam tape. I added Doodlebug Sprinkles to the center of the flowers and scattered a couple of random ones around. I mounted the whole watercolor panel to an A2 card base.

Papertrey Ink Supplies used:

Songbirds stamp set 

Songbird dies

Quatrefoil cutting plate

Bitty Button Stacks dies

Thank you so much for stoping by today! I hope you enjoy the hop!

Hugs,

Kay :)

A Rainbow Birthday with Poppystamps!

Hello, it's me again! 

I don't usually do two post in one day, but it just worked out that way :) To see my Penny Black post just scroll down a bit :)

I have another sneak peek of a card that is up on the Poppystamps blog today!

It's a bright fun card full of rainbow colors! To see the whole card and find out step by step how I created this card, hop on over to the Poppystamps blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by again today!

Hugs,

Kay :)

Hello Friend with Penny Black

Hello friends!

I have a cute new card up over on the Penny Black Simplicity Sisters site!

To see the whole card, and find out how I did that neat watercolored looking background, hop on over to the Penny Black Simplicity Sisters site!

Penny Black supplies:

30-231 Cool Chicks

4347K Christmas Reds and Greens

30-228 Blooming Tags

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,

Kay :)

A Cold City Scene for a Cold Country Day

Hello friends!

It's cooooooold outside!! So even though I am starting to think spring thoughts, and green hills are appealing to me more than the white hills I've been making for the past three months, I had to make a Christmas card :)

I got a MISTI this past week. OOOOOOH I can't tell you how much I love this little ingenious creation!! I knew I would like it before I ordered it. You don't pay that much for something you're not pretty darn sure you're going to like.... but.... I had no idea how much I was going to LOVE it! Oh it's fun people, really fun! I have figured out so many ways to use it that are not even mentioned on Youtube! I've been MISTing for days now and I can't stop!!

Anyway, City Scene is one of my favorite Papertrey Ink stamp sets, which is kind of funny seeing how I live in the middle of nowhere country and love it :D But it is, and I it's one of the first stamp sets I thought of when the MISTI arrived. I could just imaging stamping all those little buildings with their multiple overlays just perfectly! And I did! :) I stamped lots! So now I have a whole bag of little buildings to play with when I need them :)

So you already know that I had plenty of buildings and trees all stamped and cut out ready to go here, so all I needed to do next was to watercolor a nice wintery sky for a background. After that dried, I stamped the sentiment and added the buildings and trees with foam tape.  Easy fun little card!

Supplies:

City Scene- Papertrey Ink

Happiest of Holidays- Papertrey Ink

I am missing my Festive Friday really bad, since it is on hold for this year. I love to make Christmas cards all year, and have more Christmas stamps than any other, so my plan is to make and post a Christmas card each week. I'll have my own Festive Friday each week or perhaps a Festive Tuesday or Festive Wednesday, whichever day works best, but I hope to have one each week. 

Okay, thank you all so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm if you're like me, living in winter wonderland right now :)

Hugs,

Kay :)

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek

Hello friends!

I have a sneak peek of a new project that is up on the Taylored Expressions blog today!

While lately I have had so much fun experimenting with watercoloring and Distress inks, sometimes it is fun to go back to one of my all time favorite loves, die cuts. This whole card was created with just die cuts. 

To see the whole card and read all about how I put this little country scene together, hop on over to the 

Taylored Expressions Blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a happy weekend!

Kay :)

Smile with Penny Black Stamps!

Hello friends!

We are totally covered here in Missouri with ice and snow! Just less than two weeks ago, we were in the 70's and I thought winter was over. Boy was I wrong! I think it just started! 

Today I have a card, created with Penny Black stamps, to share that will hopefully put you in the spring mood even if you are deep in the snow and cold like we are :)

This card has kind of an interesting beginning. I had watercolored a background, just playing around, but I didn't like it. The colors I used didn't mix well and it was just kind of blah, I thought, so I threw it away. Later that day, I was thinking about cutting some die cuts out of watercolored backgrounds, and just to try a sample before cutting into something I really loved, I grabbed this dreadful thing out of the trash and used it to cut this lovely leafy branch out of. OMG!!! It was beautiful! I couldn't believe how lovely it looked cut out from what I thought was an ugly background! Well, I decided right away I had to make a card with it! 

On a white panel I stamped the background leaves in Grout Grey, then I glued the watercolored leaves on top. I cut the butterflies out, added a little detail with my white gel pen, bent their wings a bit, and adhered them with foam tape. I then cut out three of the smile dies, glued them together and glued them to my panel. I adhered the whole panel to an A2 size card base with foam tape.

Almost makes you forget about winter doesn't it :)

Supplies from Penny Black:

40-282 Twirls

51-038 Hooray

51-007 Tagged

51-016 Dancing Leaves

Other:

Grout Grey Ink and Cardstock from My Favorite Things

Thank you so much for stopping by! 

Hugs,

Kay :)

StampNation Technique Toolbox Starting Tomorrow!

Hello my friends!
I am excited to be a guest designer at StampNation this month for  a brand new and exciting class!

We are really looking forward to releasing our next class this week!  Ink pads are the most important tool stampers own and can be one of the most versatile.   What if there was ONE resource that taught you how to make the most of them?

Here are all the need-to-know deets:

• Registration opens on Tuesday, 2/17 for StampNation Members – don’t forget to use your $10 discount code!
• General Registration opens on Wednesday
• Sign up in the first week and get your quick reference guide for Dye Ink Pads – this is a MUST HAVE at your craft table!
• Class attendees will get a special discount code to shop at Ellen Hutson through Feb. 24.
• Prizes!  Class attendees will be in the running for some amazing prizes.

When we started planning this class, we thought we’d do a mini class…

ummm…yeah….

We got carried away teaching, stamping, creating and having a blast and now this class is overflowing with amazing stuff!
I’m about to burst I’m so excited.

Wait until you see this PDF resource that Maureen put together – I just saw it yesterday. Let me tell you, this resource ALONE is worth the price of admission.

note:  the reference guide is a download…not a physical product.

Prizes for class attendees:

• 12 pack of Dewdrop Memento Ink Pads from Imagine Crafts
• $20 Gift Certificate to Whimsy Stamps
• FIVE $20 Gift Certificates to CAS-ual Fridays 
• Stamp and Die set from My Favorite Things Stamps

You can also subscribe to Catherine's Newsletter to get updated on when the classes start!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy your week!

Hugs,

Kay :)

Celebrating Lawnscaping Challenge's 100 Birthday!

Hello friends!

Today is a special day! It Lawnscaping Challenge's 100th challenge if you can believe it!

 I have been invited as a special party guest by Design team Member Audrey Tokach. Thank you sweet Audrey for choosing me!! I'm so thrilled!! Be sure to head on over to the Lawnscaping Blog  where you can see ALL of the Design Team projects as well as ALL of the special party guest projects. 

For my cute little bunny card here, I used :

Snow Day

Argyle Backdrops

Penelope's Blossoms

Stitched Party Banners

All from Lawn Fawn.

I actually stamped that background using the Argyle background stamp and then filled in all the little spaces with a rose from Penelope's Blossoms! I was so happy with myself! haha!

Head on over to the Lawnscaping blog to see all of the fun stuff!

Have a wonderful week! 

Hugs,

Kay :)

Merry Monday #146 Guest Designer

Hello Friends!

I'm so excited to be back again for another guest spot at the Merry Monday Challenge! Thank you Nina so much for choosing my card :)
 I love making Christmas cards all year long, and it's fun to have a challenge to give me a little jump start on my inspiration! 

The theme this week is that old guy we all love so much, Santa Claus! 

a

I first cut out a stitched rectangle of watercolor paper and sponged some Peacock Feathers distress ink on it, then spritzed some water on it for the snowy look. Next, I cut out the snowy hill with the same stitched rectangle die and the stitched hills. I colored Santa, his little bunny friend and the tree with Copic markers and cut them all out. I stuck the tree behind the snowy hill and glued it flat, but added foam tape to Santa and bunny friend. I then cut out three of the joy sentiments and glued them all together. I glued that down and then adhered the whole watercolored piece to the front of a top folded card base.

Supplies:

Santa-Papertrey Ink

Bunny-Lawn Fawn

Tree- Simon Says Stamps

Joy-Lawn Fawn

Stitched dies- Lawn Fawn

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hop on over to Merry Monday to see what the other designers have created! :)

Hugs,

Kay :)

Arrrrg! Virginia's View Challenge #12

Happy Valentine's day my friends!

I'm not sure how I managed it, but I have the whole day to myself by myself. Now you might not think that sounds like a way to spend Valentine's day, but ooooooh, it's quite wonderful to me. 

Last night the dog woke me up to go outside, just after we went to bed, and I never was able to fall back to sleep. I went back to bed and lie there for an hour or so, but was so wide awake that I got up and went out to the living room, and there I lie/sat on the couch the whole rest of the night. Boy was I ever so happy to see the sun come up this morning! I was so ready for someone else to be up! I felt like I was so keyed up, and I don't really know why. I'm always excited about something I'm working on, but I wasn't anymore so than normal. I guess I should have gotten up and made a card, but I kept hoping I would get sleepy. Oh well, I hope I feel okay today and am able to get all the things done I want/need to do :)

Anyway, I made this cute little Pirate shaker card for the new Paper Smooches release and I had to enter it into the challenge at Virginia's View this month, since it was for shaker cards. I just love the way this turned out. The pirate parrot is supposed to look like he's inside a ship looking out the porthole at another ship on the horizon! That was my vision anyway! 

Supplies:

Ahoy stamp set  from Paper Smooches

Welcome Autumn stamp set ( leaves)

Virginia's View Challenge #12

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Kay :)

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek

Hello Friends!

I have a new card up on the Taylored Expressions blog today!

To see the whole card and read how I created it click HERE.

There is a Build A Treat giveaway for leaving a comment too! Yay!

I'll be back soon with something to see here, that you don't have to travel for, I promise! ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks for the sweet comments you leave for me on the other blogs. I read every single one of them, and smile :)

Have a great day!

Kay :)