Bye Bye, March!

YAY! March did indeed go out like a lamb as the old saying goes. It was a gorgeous 78 degress and just beautiful here today. The entire crew celebrated by spending all evening outside playing football, jumping on the trampoline, grilling out...and even a little sidewalk...er, driveway...art :)

Here's to saying good bye to March and hello to April! Hope you all had a wonderful day!
xoxo,
k.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Congratulations to Pegg S!! You are the lucky winner of the JetPens.com's gift certificate! YAY! Please email me at kelly(dot)goree(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize!!

Spring is spring-ing!

How I love Spring! And trust me (or my allergies) when I say Spring is really springing up all over the place around here! And I'm enjoying documenting every bit of it I can in my 365 photos! The color has been just amazing - the sky is a vivid blue, the grass an emerald green and bright flowers are everywhere! (Ahhh-chooooooo!) Ahhhh, spring!

I hope you all are having an amazing spring-filled week as well!
xoxo,
k.

FAQ: What white pen do you use?! (Do you want one of your own?!)

****CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you.*****
One of the most frequently asked questions I get about my scrapbooking work is what white pen do I use to do all my handstitching and journaling. Trust me when I say I've tried them all, but for me there's only one choice:

The Uni-ball Signo UM-153

Now I'm being really specific with this model number because Uni-ball also has another white Signo out there (the UM-120) but there is a difference. The 153 version is a bit wider. It's a 1.0 ball width so the color comes out nice, opaque and smooth. It's truly a divine pen and now the only one I use for writing in white.

So while the wide 153 is the only pen for me, I do have to tell you a bit more about the Uni-ball 120's - these pens are almost as fantastic and only a bit smaller in ball width (.7). The benefit to them is that they come in all kinds of softer range colors - from soft blue, lavender, pink, etc. So for those of you that love to journal in all kinds of colors, these are the pens for you! Pretty great, huh? But it gets better! (Keep reading!)

Unfortunately for all their greatness, these pens can come with a pretty hefty price tag and even worse, sometimes they are hard to find or hard to find in stock. I've searched high and low for a great place to get my pens and I haven't found any place better than JetPens.com. They not only carry my beloved Signo 153, but they do it at such an amazing price. Because they are a Japanese company, they don't have the import cost and thus really pass the savings on to you. Most US retailers charge around I think $4 for this pen, but they are only $2.25 at JetPens. (They also have COPICS and hard to find extra-fine point pens in unique colors and so much more). I truly love their site and love even more that they ship the next business day AND offer FREE SHIPPING on orders of $25 or more (Shipping starts at just $5 for US and Canada).
(Now here's where it gets really good!) Because I love their pens so much, they have generously agreed to give one of my lucky blog readers - that means YOU!! - a $25 Gift Certificate to their site. You could be like me and order 10 Uni-ball Signo 153's ;) or perhaps some Copics or try out one of the combo packs of Souffle pens or anything your little heart desires! SOOOO excited to be able to share this with you!



Simply leave me a comment between now and 11:59 pm Tuesday, March 30th, telling me what you would order from JetPens if you win the certificate! I'd also love hearing what kinds of pens and markers are YOUR favorites and why!

****CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you.*****

Also, if you might be interested in being a sponsor here on my blog, it's not too late to get in for April. Please email me at kelly(dot)goree(at)gmail(dot)com for all the details!

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend!
xoxo,
k.

P.S. I leave for New Zealand two weeks from today! SO excited but SO much to do before then!

Florals, and Dots, and Stripes! Oh my!

Hi, all!

As I sneak peeked in yesterday's post, my article on patterned paper with Scrapbook & Cards Today went live this morning! I'm thrilled to get to share it here with you and I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it and putting it together. I had some fantastic help on this article from the talented Lisa Kisch of the SCT creative team who contributed two lovely layouts to help illustrate my topic points as well as editor, Kerry McRorie, who is a genius and almost made me sound like one, too! ;)

Please click on the spring cover (by the amazing Kimber McGray) at the left, to download the entire issue. My article starts on page 21, but this issue is jammed packed with so much eye candy and creative artists that you absolutely must read it cover to cover! I'm particularly thrilled to see my girl Becky Fleck teaming up with Scrapbook & Cards Today and bringing her awesome PageMaps to us in yet another format on a regular basis! So exciting!

Have a happy Friday!
xoxo,
k.

The layout above is the article's opener and one of six different projects included!

SO excited!

I am so beyond excited! This photo is the opening page to my very first full article! I've been floating on a cloud since it arrived in the mail today!

I cannot WAIT to share the entire article with you all when Scrapbook & Cards Today's spring issue officially hits the newsstands tomorrow! The best part of this magazine is that it's FREE. Free. Yep, I said FREE! So tomorrow, I'll get to share the downloadable link for you right here and you can soak up all its goodness anytime you want!

In the meantime, here's a couple of sneak peeks from my projects for the article. Oh...and did I mention, this article is all about PATTERNED PAPER??!!



Have a wonderful Thursday! Until tomorrow....
xoxo,
k.

March 365

I know I've talked briefly before about my participation in Project 365 this year. For those of you not familiar with it, the concept is taking a photo a day, everyday, about your daily life. It seems easy enough, but let me tell you, it's not! I have been watching people do this for the past couple of years from afar because, well, honestly, I lack long-term commitment. If you ask some of my close friends, they'll tell you I have adult ADD (and it's probably very true though not diagnosed officially ;)) and bounce from one thing to another all. the. time. But I have loved the idea of this project and so I was determined this year.

And I'm proud to say we're toward the end of March and I've only missed a day or two here or there. The most remarkable thing about this project is that with these photos I've captured (good, bad or ugly), I've caught moments of my daily life that I NEVER would have stopped to capture before. That's the exciting part for me! I LOVE that! Those photos above are just a couple of moments that would have been long forgotten if I hadn't taken the time to stop and capture them. Again, I know it's the end of March, but it's not too late to get started! You don't have to wait for a new year, or even a new month. START TODAY! I promise you, even if you don't get a photo EVERYday, the ones you do get you'll cherish!

And to help you keep track of them all, there's a great little site that I've been uploading my images to that was just made for this project. It's called ShutterCal and it's fantastic. It's a free site that relies completely on donations (but you don't have to donate if you don't want to/can't). You can find more of my images there by clicking HERE. I'd love it if you to sign up and post your own pictures! I think you'll be so glad you did! And I'm going to keep posting a few of my images every week as encouragement (and accountability for me!!). I love sharing them and hope you like seeing them, too!

Have a beautiful Tuesday!
xoxo,
k.

And the Winner is....

ME!! for getting the majority of my cleaning and purging done over the weekend despite fighting horrid allergies. I can't tell you how much weight just lifted off my shoulders simply by living lighter and getting rid of things I don't absolutely love.







But seriously! The *real* winner of my endeavors is BRENDA JOHNSTON! Congratulations, Brenda! Just email me at kelly(dot)goree(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize!

Thank you to all who entered and have a fantastic Monday! :)
xoxo,
k.

First day of SPRING = Free Stuff!

****CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON. THANK YOU SO MUCH!*****
Can you hear me hollering wherever you are??! It's the first day of SPRING!!! Oh yes, it is! And because of that I am frantically spring cleaning (and spring planting with the boys :)) because I just don't function well with clutter. Let's not even mention I have the looming deadline of Taxes and an upcoming LSS yard sale next weekend. So much to do and it all starts with cleaning and purging! As much as I hate the actual process, I love the end result of organized space and I think you will, too!

****CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON. THANK YOU SO MUCH!*****

In my efforts, I came across an extra collection pack of the new BasicGrey GREEN AT HEART (a perfect for spring collection!) that I am willing to share with one lucky reader! Just leave a comment here telling me what Spring has you doing (PG-rated please ;)) by Sunday night March 21 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time and you'll be entered to win!


Have a fantastic weekend, all!
xoxo,
k.

Emerging from my cocoon!

Whew!

I think I can safely say that spring has finally arrived here in Kentucky and with it, I'm slowly coming out of my winter-induced hibernation. Whoo hooo! I suppose I should have warned you, but after the holidays are over, I'm not good for much of anything until about this time in March when the sun starts shining and the flowers start peeking out of the ground. It just makes me feel alive again! YAY for that!

Because I was feeling particularly happy with the sunshine and nearly 70 degree temperatures AND because I had an errand to run (for white cardstock of all things - why is it I always run out of white cardstock?), I snagged my husband and we ran off for lunch! So fun and so yummy! And let's just say this photo? Well it's my 365 photo of the day. I think it says it all! ;)

Happy Spring & Friday, all!
xoxo, k.

Ask me anything

Ok, well almost anything ;)


I've been getting quite a few emails lately asking questions about this or that and never quite know where to best answer them. So I'm taking a cue from some of my friends and giving formspring a try! Simply post your question in the box on sidebar to the right and ask away!

Happy Wednesday!
xoxo,
k.

I just want to take a quick moment to send out a huge congrats to Juliana, the winner of my Sugar Rush prize giveaway!

Congrats, Juliana, and I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Please email me your addy at kelly(dot)goree(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize!

I hope the rest of you are staying warm and snow-free. We had 4 fresh inches of snow dumped on us last night and more to come. Oh the joy! :)

Happy President's Day!
xoxo,
k.

Happy Valentine's Day & A Giveaway!

******* Contest is now Closed. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner. Thank you!*********

Good morning, all! Happy Valentine's Day weekend! I wanted to share somethingwith you first this morning and then at the end we'll have a little giveaway to celebrate the day of Love. I haven't done one of those in a while and I'm totally in the spirit :)

Let me first mention about a promotion BasicGrey has going on at Scrapbook.com. It features the Bittersweet Collection pack and not only comes with the full collection (18 papers, element sticker sheet and alphabet sticker sheet), but also with pink/rose Opaline pearls, dark chocolate chipboard alphabets as well as a package of Bittersweet Olio Rub-ons....AND the instructions to do 6 different layouts with those papers.
These layouts are just two of those six...I hope you'll check them out here and pick up a set! They don't have many left and it would be wonderful to scrap your valentine (or any other) photos!


And finally I want to do a little giveaway featuring our latest Valentine's/Love inspired line, Sugar Rush! Just in time to scrap all those school party photos or your wonderful date night with someone special, I have a full collection pack to give away, as well as a 6x6 paper pad, a set of stamps, a package of Sugar Rush chipboard, some sparkle rub-ons, love notes cards, our new Pieces, a few canvas tags AND two sheets of alphabet stickers - our new mini and micro fonts! Whew! Totally enough to keep you busy for long after February! :) So to enter, please leave me a comment between now and 11:59 pm EASTERN time on Sunday, February 14th telling me something about what you love, someone you love or what you're going to do for Valentine's Day. I'll pop in Monday morning with the winner! Good luck and much love to you all!

******* Contest is now Closed. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner. Thank you!*********

xoxo,
k.

PSA: Valentines & Boys

Just consider this a small PSA:

Pre-made, store-bought valentines and 4th grade boys do NOT mix.

There. I've done my civic duty for the day in warning all you moms out there that as your sweet boys get older, it gets harder and harder to find something suitable to pass out to classmates - especially of the GIRL variety - and not be embarrassed by them. But yet they are still young enough to want to pass out said valentines. Oh what is a mom to do??!

Well....if your a mom like *me*, you let your little boys happily buy and address Transformer Valentines of the store-bough $2.99 variety and promise your oldest that you'd help him make some. And then you get distracted by the other bazilliondy things going on in your life and, oh yeah, a week of snow days, then you suddenly remember - DRAT! - the Valentine's parties are tomorrow...tomorrow! And then you (like most techno-hip moms) put out a call on Facebook for just the right thing that will a) not embarrass child and b) can be done in the 15 minutes you have to spare.

And of course, my wonderful facebook friends came to the rescue! As we already had purchased Tootsie Pops to give to his friends, Candi pointed me in the direction of these cute little Valentine Playbills from bunnycakes.typepad.com. They were just perfect! I printed them out on some dotted swiss cardstock, rounded the corners, had E sign them and then tied them onto the lollies. I was golden! And now you other last minute moms can be, too!

Here are a few other fun sights that were suggest if any others of you are still looking!
Cute treat bag toppers from Heather Ann Designs
House of 3 Valentine Mini Cards

Have a wonderful Thursday!
xoxo,
k.

January's 365

I have to admit I'm horrible at doing things long-term. I always have the best of intentions, but somehow or another, things get in the way, I get lazy, blah, blah. You know all the excuses, right?! hee!

But enter 2010. It's time for a change, right? A new beginning, a new year, a new DECADE for pete's sake! So I wanted to give something a go. I had been watching folks do the Project 365 for a couple of years (where they take a photo a day, every day, during that year). That excited me! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE taking photos but will admit, when the weather is bad or things are going on, I will often leave my poor camera neglected. And that's just not what I meant to do when I got her. you know? SO...I am making the effort. Some days are easier than others. I'll admit to already missing a day and fudging a day here or there...but I still have INTENT! Whooo hooo! Go me!

It's already into February and I'm still having fun with it! So I thought I'd share a quick recap of January, 2010 with you. And for those of you that are interested, there is a link to the right that has all the pictures in their entirety so that you can see them bigger!

It's not too late for you to start either! Pick up your camera today and show me what you've got! If you decide to join Shuttercal where I've posted my pictures, let me know so I can add you as a friend and check out yours, too!

(p.s. Thanks to Ms. Emilie for sharing her cute little 365 image!)

Happy Monday, all!
xoxo,
k.

Thanks, Phil.

NOT! Darn Groundhog. Who likes 'em anyway?

Kelly - who's SO not looking forward to six more weeks of winter. Bah!.
(photos courtesy of the Associated Press)

Introducing the purr-fectly adorable MAX & WHISKERS by BasicGrey

Paws to enjoy the amazing adventures of Max & Whiskers! This feisty collection of purr-fectly pet-fi lled papers combines huggable colors and happy-go-lucky patterns ready for you to create a bow-wow bounty of pet-themed pages and crafty creations. It’s okay to pet the paper. Good boy!

Here are a couple of my pages featuring this adorable line. Isn't it awesome that although it's pet-themed, you certainly don't have to use it for pet pages? Boy, girl, pet, outdoors, it all works and works well!

Here's my silly oldest and one of his best friends. They're a bit nuts when they get together ;)


And 4 of my 6 beautiful nieces. I don't see these girls often at all (its' been years before this picture was taken, actually), but I adore them and had to get them for a quick shoot at Christmas!


Here's the yummy double-sided collection - including the Element stickers & alpha stickers and lace doilies.





The chipboard for this line (I'm loving those little animal guys!)


The brads and other embellies....









But I saved the best for last. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but BasicGrey is now going to start releasing albums that coordinate with each of the new lines! How awesome is that? They are 2" D-ring binder style and they are drop-dead gorgeous! Here's the one for Max & Whiskers! Totally crazy about this!


So Happy Monday and Happy February to you all! It's a crazy-busy one for me, but hoping it's also productive! Here's to a great week!

xoxo,
k.