*Turning 7* - a celebration in pictures!

Yesterday was such a fantastic day for my boy. Birthdays are great, anyhow, but when you're the middlest, you seem to have an extra desire to have a day where all the attention is on you. And so it was. And he milked it. Completely. But we loved every second of it!

The day started with the singing of "Happy Birthday" (add the cha-cha-cha if you please)- his request - followed by "Daddy made" pancakes complete with a candle for him to blow out (the boy got 3 birthday wishes in all!). Unfortunately the morning was verrrrrrrry rainy so it canceled out our plans for a day at the pool, but video and board games and a little drawing time took care of that.

He picked his lunch (a ham sandwich and doritos...um, yeah, that wouldn't have been my choice either!) and after a quick "quiet time"/nap, he got up to a plate full of cuppy cakes, another wish and a couple of presents from his brothers. Let me tell you anyone with seven-year-old boys need to know that Bakugans are HUGE hits. Seriously. He just loved them. (Thanks, Glue!)


Dinner was at Red Robin (yummmmmmmmmmmm) where the actual Red Robin came out with the waitstaff to sing to Turner. He absolutely loved it. I think the kid was floating the rest of the night! Yet MORE candles and another cake here at RR....many more birthday presents....and we were spent! What a fantastic day for my boy. (And I know it was because he told me so ;))



I'm so glad you had a wonderful birthday, Turner. I hope this year is your best one yet!

And for me, today starts the beginning of my work for CHA. I see quite a few hours holed up in my teeny craft closet coming up, so I wanted to put this up. Again, I'm doing my best to follow along with the amazing Jen McGuire and her "Thinking Inking" class over at Two Peas! Jen is amazing and this class is NINE weeks long! So much wonderful information and fantastic techniques!

As a reminder, I will be giving away some stamps/ink each week that she's doing the class, starting with THIS WEEK! If you will link me up here by SUNDAY at 11:59 p.m. eastern, you will be entered in my drawing! It doesn't take long - it's just a "little" messy ;) - and I hope to see your creations! In the spirit of it all, here was mine from week 1, part II. Part III goes up today and can be found here!



Happy Friday, all!
xoxo,
k.

Happy Birthday, Middlest!

Good morning, all!



I just wanted to put up a quick post to wish my middlest a very, very happy 7th birthday.

Seriously? Seven?
Wow. Just wow.

As I was telling my husband last night as we lay in bed:

"I can't believe it's been seven years. Tonight, seven years ago, I was crying my eyes out wondering if I could love another child as much as I loved my E."

And today seven years ago, I knew. The minute I saw his sweet little monkey face, I knew. And everyone else did, too. There's just something about Turner.

I mean, really. Who couldn't adore a kid who, after having Happy Birthday sung to him this morning by his whole family, said to me: "Mama? I'm saving the biggest piece of my cake for you."

Happy Birthday, T. I love you to the moon and back!

So here's what I think I'll do...

Hi, all!!

I have to tell you am super-excited to be learning all about stamping with Jennifer McGuire and her "Thinking Inking" class over at Two Peas for the next several weeks (Um, NINE!)...so excited that I really wanted to keep my energy up for playing along and yours as well. So here is what I decided I wanted to do.

Each week, if you show me that you've played along by linking me to your post at Two Peas or on your blog or somewhere (anywhere, really!), I will enter you in a drawing for some stamping supplies. This week I think it'll be a pad of some of the awesome Ranger Distress Ink we're learning about (I have some "Pine Needles" ready for a good home) as well as some fun limited edition BasicGrey doodle stamps! Each week I'll do the same thing until we have some kind of fun grand giveaway at the end of the class! So how about it? Start linking me up! To get you started, here are a few I did after watching Jen's video....

Here is the finished project:

Supply List: Hero Arts stamps, Ranger Distress Ink, BasicGrey PP and Bling It, Bazzill CS, Uniball Signo Pen, Heidi Swapp Mask and more....

Here are the tags in process as I was working on them:

This first tag is the water wicking technique (gone a little wrong down the middle - ha!), then water stamping and finally the masking! I had such fun doing these and I never would have tried these techniques on my own.

Here's more as I was developing them into cards:


And finally a bit of detail....
So go on! I want to see what you've done! Link me up so I can enter you to win some goodies! :)

Oh!!! And before I forget....Studio Calico's Sneak Peek of their July Kit is now up on their site and let me tell you, it's amazing!! Here's a little sample of a project I've done with this new kit. I can't wait to have some time to work with it a little more!


Happy Tuesday & Happy Scrapping! I've got a little boy who's birthday is coming up on Thursday and as he says "I'm so 'cited!" :)

xoxo,
k.

Thinking Inking!

Hello, all!

I apologize for the long absence and neglect of my dear old blog, but to say last week was a horrendous one would be an understatement. I might get more into that later, but I will definitely share some images from our summer so far (focusing on the positive as it's all about perspective...the Lord has most assuredly taught me that lesson this week).

Anyhow, I wanted to pop on this morning to give a little shout out to my amazing friend, Jennifer McGuire. Jen is doing a brand new class over at Two Peas in a Bucket called "Thinking Inking" that starts TODAY! I for one am beyond excited. As much as I love scrapbooking and paper crafting, stamping and inking is an area where I have soooooo very much to learn. And I'm super excited to travel along with Jen for this class and learn all I can.

Here's a little taste of what is to come from Jen on Day 1!

(p.s. I borrowed this photo from Jen's post at 2Peas - all copyrights belong to her and TwoPeasinabucket.com)

I hope to see many of you over there this week...and at the end of the class, we'll see about doing a special giveaway of some BasicGrey stamps for all your hard work!

Have a fabulous Monday!

xoxo,
k.

BasicGrey June Newsletter

...is now available for your viewing pleasure! Just click here: BasicGrey Newsletter

This issue not only shows some of the new product we've released (from Take Notes, Woolies, Pops and more) but it also announces a brand new contest - an ANNIVERSARY contest! Can you believe it? Basic Grey is almost FIVE YEARS OLD! Seriously! So here are the details:

We’re looking for two winners in our 5th Anniversary Contest (one layout winner, one card winner). Our layout category winner will receive a collection pack and the card category winner will receive a 6x6 paper pad, of either Lemonade or June Bug. The contest starts June 5th and ends June 17th. Join the celebration and upload your entry in our gallery at www.basicgrey.com using the title “Anniversary Card” or “Anniversary Layout.” The two lucky winners will appear in our July issue!

So get to posting those layouts and cards, everyone! We look forward to seeing your best stuff!

I also wanted to send out a huge thank you to Moon Ko, Janet Ohlson and Christi Spadoni for participating in this month's sketch column. You ladies did an incredible job on Becky's fab sketch and we really appreciate your hard work!

Here is my contribution to this month's sketch. This was me and my Carson at his pre-school Mother's Day Breakfast. It really hit me then that we only had a little more time when it would just be "us" at home. He'll be a big kindergartener this fall!

Supplies: BasicGrey Lemonade patterned paper, Lemonade Pops, Lemonade rub-ons, Lollipop Shoppe alpha stickers other: Pentel pen, Colorbox (Clearsnap) chalk ink

Have a Happy Saturday and I look forward to seeing your contest entries!
xoxo,
k.

BasicGrey Featured Designers!

I think this is a super fun idea that BasicGrey is doing at a couple of great websites. We have introduced a brand new feature we're launching both at Scrapbook.com and Two Peas in a Bucket. At each of those respective sites each month, we will select a different talented designer whose work with BasicGrey papers and products really catches our eye. We think great work deserves great recognition and we want that person to be you! To become one of our featured designers, here's all you need to do:

* Become a "friend" of BasicGrey if possible or if you haven't already.
* Post your projects or layouts to your gallery on their website.
* Relate the BasicGrey products you use to your project post.
* That's IT!!

It's truly that easy! We'll do a search by a random product line or product and find all the wonderful talent out there using it. And if your design catches our eye, YOU could be next! How fun is that?!

We found some amazingly talented designers during our first search and I hope you'll join me in congratulating the first round of Featured Designers.

From SCRAPBOOK.COM, we are pleased to announce SIMONA MONTANARI, Satriales Girl for her gorgeous use of Lime Rickey!

We absolutely loved her use of so many different patterns of Lime Rickey (there are five – count them, FIVE!) into one cohesive design. The beautiful thing that ties all of them together is the large scalloped yellow square that gives the eye a place to rest visually yet still imparts wonderful color and style! To find out more about Simona or how to be a featured designer for BasicGrey at scrapbook.com, please visit our Scrapbook.com blog.


Thank you so much, Simona, for sharing your talent with us!

And from Two Peas in a Bucket, we are excited to showcase this amazing designer, ALLISON (Ally) COPE, thecircleguru, for her amazing use of the WISTERIA line!

We absolutely love Ally's use of WISTERIA in this amazing circle format. Those rolled the paper strips really allowed her to create wonderful dimension to her design that gave not only great texture but the ability to use so many patterns without overwhelming her photo or project. Incredible! And check out the detail - even her owl is made up of the Wisteria paper!


Thank you to you, too, Ally, for sharing your incredible talent with us. To find out more about Ally or how to be a featured designer for BasicGrey at Two Peas, please visit our Two Peas blog!

Remember, the next featured designer could be YOU, so get to linking up those projects!

TGIF!
xoxo,
k.

Wrapping it up!

There are so many things I'm trying to wrap up lately....work projects, Cub Scouts, school...and the winner of the awesome Studio Calico June kit! I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting so long!





The Random Number Generator (or RNG for short ;)) gave me #19 as my lucky lady - so that means LESLIE MURPHY, it's YOU! Congratulations and enjoy it! Please email april@studiocalico.com to claim your prize! (And be sure to mention you're my winner!)


And since we're also wrapping up Cub Scouts - here are my two handsome boys at our final meeting tonight. We had a really special one as we had a scout cross over the bridge to leave Cub Scouts and become a Boy Scout. What a great moment. Have a great night! Tomorrow is the last day of school and the 1st Grade party - should be a fun one!

xoxo,
k.

Don't Forget!

Consider this the string around your finger!!

My giveaway for that awesome Studio Calico Soda Fountain kit ends tonight! Hurry so you can be sure to get your name in on this post to be entered to win!

Today is Field Day for the biggest and we're busy winding down the rest of the school year. All kinds of things are finding their way home.

All. kinds.

The middlest brought home this for me yesterday and I completely adore it. It has a home on my fridge right now, but really want a funky cool, ornate frame for it to go somewhere in the house. He's only 6! My aspiring artist! (Makes this creative mama so very proud! ;))

TGIF!
xoxo,
k

Soda Fountain!

*******Contest Now Closed. Please Check back for Winner! Thank you!**************


The big reveal of Studio Calico's June Kit, Soda Fountain, went live last night at midnight eastern time! And you know what that means! It's GIVEAWAY TIME! Whooooo hooO! So please leave me a comment here telling me what your favorite part of the kit (or add-ons) is by 11:59 pm (eastern) Friday, May, 29th and you'll be entered to win one of your very own! And in the meantime, here are a couple of layouts I did with mine. Oh how I love this kit! :)



(This bottom one is yet another Becky Fleck sketch - how I love that woman's sketches!)

Have a Happy Thursday!

xoxo,

k.

Home from Orlando!

Don't let this photo fool you. It did nothing but rain the entire time I was in Florida. The entire time...oh, except when I took the town car to catch my plane! Of course! Why is it that the last day you're some place is always the nicest? And then I flew back to more rain at home, but anyhow...

Rain or not, I had the most incredible time with the ladies at Scrappy Boutique, an adorable little store in Orlando. The owner, Stacey, and her amazing manager, Amy, were so gracious and made me feel more than welcome. It was such an honor to be there and meet every one of them. Their love of BasicGrey is unparalleled! (Seriously - you should see the store!) ;)

Here they are working hard on a Porcelain mini album! That little miss on the left hiding behind her album is Deb - she also helped me by being a TA during one of my Expo classes a couple days later. (THANKS, Deb!)



I also enjoyed meeting so many of you at Orlando's Scrapbook Expo. We had an amazing venue at the Gaylord Palms and the classes were busy but a lot of fun! Thank you for coming out and spending some (or all in a few cases!) of your day with me! The next Expo is in Duluth, Georgia (right outside Hotlanta) in July and hope to see you Georgia/Tennessee girls there! :)

One more thing! I have been playing along with the girls over at Studio Calico and am drooling over their June kit, Soda Fountain! It's absolutely amazing and what's even more amazing is that I'll have one of those yummy kits to share with YOU! Stay tuned for the details and in the meantime, here are a few sneak peeks to tide you over! Remember - the big reveal is TONIGHT at midnight eastern time!! Hop over there and join in the reveal nite fun!




Happy Hump Day, all!

xoxo,
k.

New BASICGREY - JUNE BUG & LEMONADE!

Today's the day!!

*************************
A panorama of savory summer designs, June Bug is a walk through a wildflower garden of color. This newest double-sided collection is where eclectic, energetic shades merge in quilted patterns of rich, seasonal colors. Like wildflowers, June Bug is a bit untamed and a tad unruly, but a gorgeous addition to any creative project. Spot this June Bug in your next design.

Who wants Lemonade?! Parched for something to quench your summer scrapbooking thirst? Try some Lemonade‚ the refreshing, revitalizing elixir of cool color that is the newest collection. Brightly tart and sensationally tangy‚ beat the heat with a glass or two of Lemonade.

Each of our newest lines includes your BasicGrey favorites like 18 incredible papers (note: June Bug is double-sided), collec­tion packs, 6x6 pads, and mono, mini mono, alpha and element stickers. We've also included favorites in the chip department: chip sticker alphas and shapes. There are two bitsy clear acrylic stamps and one regular acrylic stamp, followed by oodles of loved items‚brads, glazed brads, buttons, two single-sheet designer rub-ons, and a five-page Olio rub-on book, plus the popular card kit. Phew‚ that's a lot to drink in!

Warning: reading the following may cause uncontrollable bursts of happiness (but we knew you were craving more!) Welcome our newest additions to the BasicGrey arsenal of creativity: Woolies, Pops, Take Note, cardstock stickers, Doilies and Do Me A Favor box kits!

No more self-accessorizing felt (or trying to find an adhesive that holds). Woolies are self-adhesive, layered felt stickers that include all the embellishments, from wire to stitching to ritzy rhinestone accents. No additional work necessary‚ just pick and stick!

You've gotta have some Pops! A pop of color, a burst of pizzazz, Pops are layered cardstock stickers that add an intricate dimensional look to projects. Rhinestone accents adorn these Pops-of-perfect-color that match our newest lines‚ June Bug and Lemonade collections.

You'll want to Take Note. That's why we are launching Take Note‚ beautiful journaling blocks with coordinating printed trans­parencies that can be stacked and used together or separately. Take Note journaling spots are perfectly mini-sized spaces to note the important moments, jot down a few thoughts and simplify journaling into effortless, beautifully brief notes.

Try our new 6x12 cardstock stickers! These extra large, super intricate stickers are available in designer solid colors. Use an entire design or cut, crop and break down these stickers to adorn photos, pages and more.

These aren't grandma's Doilies! No offense to grandma, but we've put a modern twist on a timeless creation. Our Doilies are intricately-cut papers in detailed designs, available in many patterns and colors. Border your page or photo, trim to suit your style and add a distinct accent to your next treasured page.

Do Me a Favor? The Do-Me-A-Favor party favor box kits will have guests at your next party oohing-and-aahing with delight and wondering, “How did she do that?" Each kit contains six delightful, ready-to-assemble favor boxes. Pack them with candy, notes or party trinkets for guests. Detailed step-by-step, illustrated instructions are included for easy assembly.

Long-awaited and finally available are our new Designer Cardstock packs. These packs of 24 double-sided solids (four each of six colors) are just what BasicGrey lovers have yearned for. Never run out of your favorite cardstock colors again. Use as a backdrop for your favorite BasicGrey patterned papers, create cards and altered items. Why use boring cardstock when double-sided, designer-distressed papers are at your fingertips? Give your next page a fabulous look with our new designer cardstock.

JUNE BUG:


LEMONADE:


And a few projects:

June Bug: (These cards are going to be part of the Card Kit released with June Bug)




Lemonade:
These layouts are based on sketches by my awesome friend Becky Fleck. Love her PageMaps site! And a huge Thank You to Ms. Steph for allowing me to use pics of her adorable Sadie (love you!)





Have a beautiful Wednesday! I leave out of town tomorrow to teach at Scrappy Boutique in Orlando and to teach at Scrapbook Expo! I'll be checking in as I can! I hope to see a lot of you there!

xoxo,
k.

Meet: June Bug & Lemonade!

Peeks to come right here tomorrow!!:)





And now for the winner of the Green Tangerine kit, the random number generator picked #153 so that means Ms. Angelia, you're the gal! Just email the awesome Green Tangerine girls at kitclub@mygreentangerines.com and tell them you're my winner! Your kit will be on it's way. Enjoy and thank you all so much for playing!

My Green Tangerine

*******Contest is now over. Please stay tuned for WINNER! Thank you!*******
Oh how I love that song! But that's not quite the point of this post, I promise! What I did promise was a giveaway and that's just what I'm gonna do! And here's how...

A while back, the girls at Green Tangerine wrote me to ask if I'd help them promote their brand new kit club. I had met them a little over a year ago at CHA and had commented on their stunning logo for their store. Their t-shirts definitely were noticeable and too adorable. So of course I told them I'd be happy to play along and share a bit of Green Tangerine with all of you.

To get their club started off on the right foot, they are having huge blog party that started May 8th and will continue through July 1st! That's almost two months of partying and over $1000 worth of free scrapbooking products that they are giving away!! And every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during that time brings you two more new chances of playing along and winning! How's that for a kick-off?!!



And as you've probably already guessed, tonight is MY turn to host the blog party and share with you the fun things I made with their incredible kit! And trust me, I'm not just saying that. This kit was so up my alley, filled with gorgeous bright colors, 2 sheets of SEVERAL colors of cardstock, coordinating brads and embellies, two full alphabet sets and more!

This first layout is of Turner and Carson and our recent face-painting encounter at the zoo! These papers were just perfect for my brightly colored tigers. (and check out that embellishment in the lower left - that's a custom embellishment done by the girl's at Green Tangerine. Fun, isn't it?!


For this next one I was trying to channel my inner Kelli (Crowe, that is!). I love Kelli's use of circle punches of different sizes onto neutral cardstock. I'm a bit too reserved to really do the magic she does, but I had fun just the same! This is Carson on his 100th day of school (could you tell?)! Dig those rad glasses, man!



And finally, here's a fun little card featuring October Afternoon's little monsters. I have to admit it started as a "thank you" for teacher's appreciation week and then even mother's day related. Appropriate, no? ;)

Ok, so now's where YOU come in...simply leave me a comment telling me what your favorite part or technique of my projects are and you are entered to win a kit of your very own! And if you visit the girls at Green Tangerine on their blog, you'll have even one more chance to win! But it's going to be a quick one - you must leave your comment by 5:00 pm EASTERN TOMORROW, MAY 19th to be included in my drawing. The winner will be announced tomorrow night in another post. Good luck and have fun!

xoxo,
k.

Season's End & Stay Tuned!

Good morning, all!

There's SO much going on around here with school winding down, graduations upon us and the end of some sports seasons and the beginning of others...not to mention the new release of BasicGrey coming Wednesday (you didn't think I'd let you forget, did you?! TWO DAYS! TWO DAYS!) ANDDDDDDDDD....I have a fun giveaway coming up a bit later today so don't forget to check back! I promise you won't want to miss it!

To tide you over a bit in the mean time, here's my littest getting his soccer trophy yesterday. He was so very proud! ;) I sadly think I'm glad to see the end of it as it's been one of the rainiest springs we've had in ages and more games got canceled and rescheduled than actually played.

School ends for him this week as well (and then I'll have a big Kindergartener and all three of my babies at the "big" school!) so it's been quite the series of events! Dare I say I'm looking forward to the normalcy of summer? (Hee - I'm sure THAT one will come back to bite me in the butt, eh?!)

Have a great Monday! See you a bit later!
xoxo,
k.

God's Promise...

...never waivers

If you needed proof. :)


This was such a beautiful site it almost didn't look real. And so wishing I had the wide angle lens that is on my wish list as it was a full-arch rainbow. Next time! ;)
The storm has now passed and we're off to soccer! Have a beautiful weekend, everyone.

xoxo,
k.