Meet me at the KISSING BOOTH!

HELLO, everyone!!

First let me start by saying Happy 11.11.11 (how cool is that?!), but even more importantly - HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!! As the daughter, granddaughter, niece or wife of men who have bravely and honorably served our country in several branches of the armed forces, I can't say thank you enough for your selfless sacrifice and dedication to our freedom. God bless you all.

And in *my* mind what better way to honor those service men we love than with kisses?! That's right - BasicGrey is so excited to announce the launch of its brand new line dedicated to love, kisses and all things mushy!! Let me introduce you to KISSING BOOTH!

********************************************************************

Hey you love birds – get a (crafting) room! We normally don’t kiss and tell, but we had to spill the beans about our adorable Kissing Booth collection. Step right up and get a big ol’ smooch of petal-perfect pinks and love-me-tender reds mixed with some sinfully sweet chocolate. Whether you go for a peck or a full-on snogfest (yes, we're Harry Potter fans at BasicGrey ;)), we think Kissing Booth is the perfectly lovely way to craft whatever or whomever you are passionate about. Sensational style, opulent color, and precious, sav

ory patterns … all sealed with a kiss.

(Just look how tiny my little man was in these photos! *sob*)

I'm so excited about this line. Not only am I a true romantic at heart and lover of all things girlie and pink (what else would a girl in a houseful of boys be?!), but I am truly in LOVE with all the new products and new ways of packaging things we've done in Kissing Booth. Here, let me show you...

First, we have the gorgeous papers. As always there are 18

sheets of double-sided patterned papers, but rather than have only one color of solid on the back sides, there are now two. So there are two solid reds, two solid browns and so on. LOVE that! Oh...and those ledger papers? *dying*

Check out our new ALPHA STICKERS! Oh my gosh! I've been begging for what seems like forever to get multiple fonts on one alpha sheet and now it's HERE!! Check out those tiny pink letter tabs! The best part? It comes WITH the collection pack. It's almost like a bonus!

Then there's the mini envies! They come in both transparent vellum and cardstock and are so stinkin' cute with their mini buttons and string I can't stand it!

So now we come to what I think is my FAVORITE new product - the layered trims. Holy cuteness. I used one on my layout below and I love them. They are such a great easy accent. And for a girl who doesn't sew, what's better than having it already done for you?!

Check out the new way we're doing chipboard! It's been a while since we've released new chipboard alphas, but we are again - and this time with chip sticker shapes! So you get two sheets of each in one package! Brilliant! I'm telling you - I LOVE this release!

And my littlest not so little anymore...oy. I'm not ready for his infatuations. Of all my guys, he's the biggest ladies man. He told his brother and dad last week that he has quote "24 girlfriends and they're all HOT!" Help me. Seriously!

Finally here are a couple of cards using Kissing Booth. The one on the left was adapted from an adorable one I fell in love with on Pinterest (I've professed my adoration of this site many times).

One last thing before I go - I want to announce the winner of the Kelly Purkey SketchPad giveaway! Congratulations CHAR!!! (Sorry this is a bit late!) Please contact me at kelly(dot)goree(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize!

Have a wonderful day and please - thank a vet today.

xoxo,

kg

Friday Giveaway!

HAPPY FRIDAY, everyone!!!

I have to say it's been quite the busy week so I'm so excited for a couple of days of rest....that is until Sunday night when my oldest plays in his 5th FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP. Then I'll be going crazy - GOOOOOO COLTS!

I told you yesterday that I'd have a fun giveaway today and what could be more fun than a sketch class? I know I know! A sketch class from my friend KELLY PURKEY! Trust me, you're going to love it! First, here are the deets:

Sketchpad is a brand-new class from Kelly Purkey, spinning off from her series of successful Sketchbook classes. Sketchpad is a downloadable, self-paced class featuring 12 original sketches, 35 exclusive layouts from Kelly + and her talented contributors, 35 MORE sketches made from those layouts, and 12 amazing cards based on the sketches from the talented, Kristina Werner... all in a full-color 75 page PDF. Visit Kelly's blog for more details on the class and how to purchase.

Here's a peek at the project I did for her class to give you a very small taste of what is included:

(and yes, more HALLOWEEN! But this time I'm ahead of the game -they're THIS year's photos! ;))

KP has generously agreed to let me give away a spot in her class to one of my lucky readers! So here's what you have to do:

Simply leave a comment (one per person, please) between now and Sunday night November 6th at 11:59 pm Eastern telling me what you love about sketches and what this class would do for you and you'll be entered to win! Winner announced Monday!

And a little freebie for you today, too! BasicGrey has put up their free desktop calendar for November - it's adorable! Get yours HERE!

Have a fantastic weekend!

xo,

kg

A Tiny Sampler & a Tutorial of Sorts

Hi, everyone!

First, I want to thank you so much for your wonderful birthday wishes. I feel so blessed to have so many good friends both in person and online who made the day so special for me. I love you all :)

Next, I wanted to share something really fun with you. Most of you know that BasicGrey has been doing fabric for quite a while now, but fewer of you might know that we are now doing NOTIONS!! Yep - vintage buttons and fabric/felt flowers and all kinds of wonderful goodies. My head just swims with it all!

One of my favorite items we have debuted are these adorable samplers. They come in several sizes and styles, but this one has to be my favorite. It's called the Small Rook Sampler and is an 8"x10" size. It's absolutely perfect for a little splash of color somewhere - for me that somewhere is my scraproom! AND since I am so not a seamstress (hellloooo - I FAKE stitch on all my layouts and projects!), I decided to do an all paper sampler rather than using fabric. I really loved how it came out, especially these sweet little flower details!

Supplies: BasicGrey Small Rook Sampler, Picadilly and Out of Print papers, Stitched & Glazed Brads

Other: Uni-ball & Pentel Pens, Fiskars scallop scissors, Fiskars Scallop circle & heart punch.

Here's a close up of the flowers to let you really see how cute and in a minute how EASY they are to make!

So before we get any further, I have to first 'fess up -I saw these adorable little flowers in fabric from my friend Kimber and decided they would look adorable in paper as well. I followed the simple tutorial she linked me to on Pinterest and these were the results.

1. Punch one circle base to hold the flower (size depends on the size you're making the flower. Here it was 1.5" and the scallop circles were 2") and eight scalloped circles.

2. Fold the scalloped circles into quarters.

3. Adhere four folded quarter circles around the base circle with scallops at the edge as shown.

4. Add more adhesive to this layer and add the remaining four folded circles on top of the first layer, off-set slightly for variety.

5. Punch hole in center of flower once layers are all added.

6. Add brad to center to secure the petals.

7. Gently separate the petal layers to add dimension to your flower and there you have it! Just right for embellishing your project!

Have a wonderful day! I'll be back tomorrow with yet another giveaway! (YAY!)

xoxo,

kg

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS.....

I know! I know! We just finished Halloween (which I promise to post about soon!) and I'm skipping entire months here by saying this...but Christmas is FAST approaching (excuse me while I go stick my head in the sand in denial). To help me get into the spirit (and pull my head back up), the wonderful people at Silhouette America were kind enough to send me their beautiful Limited Edition Advent calendar to play with.

I have to say, I LOVE advent calendars but have never owned one. I've been on the hunt for many years to find just "the" one. Now I have it. I absolutely adore this wonderful white shadow box frame and its deep cubbies. It's couldn't be more perfect for my decor AND it's large enough to stash all kinds of goodies and surprises!

The download card that comes with the calendar gives you the option of either boxes or drawers to fill your calendar spaces. And since I can never make a decision (hence the reason I never had a calendar before!) so I chose to do BOTH and mixed up both the drawers and adorable boxes for my own custom look. All the papers and embellishments here are from BasicGrey's JOVIAL line - perhaps my favorite holiday line ever and on sale now at basicgrey.com (at little enabling there) - with just a little hint of some cardstock and BASICS paper.

Supplies: BasicGrey's Jovial - patterned paper, stitched brads, glazed brads, alpha stickers (micro & mini), die-cut pieces, rub-ons, Small Details; BasicGrey Basics Paper; BasicGrey Origins, Basics and Studio Calico exclusive alphas

Other: BoBunny cardstock, Fiskars punches, McGill punches

I'm already on the hunt for wonderful things to fill it and I'm not quite sure I can wait until the holidays to hang it up!

I absolutely love the way it turned out! You can make one too AND right now Silhouette is offering this limited edition advent calendar for $29.99 (regular price is $39.99!!) now through November 11th. Just click THIS LINK and enter promo code BASIC to receive the discount.

And finally for the winner of the Bazzill goodies giveaway:

Congratulations to JENNIFER COWAN!! Please email me at kelly(dot)goree(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize!

Have a wonderful day! I'm off to celebrate my birthday (but not getting older! ;))

xo,

kg