Happy Birthday Tony!

Hello all!!

I'm sorry it's been a little while since I've been here. Unfortunetly birthdays mean I get busy and blogs get slightly ignored. :( It's been a great few days though. Monday was my wonderful husband Tony's birthday, and we celebrated saturday night, and again on Monday. We have one more celebration on Thursday. Today I speant time working on Tony's birthday present. I really wanted to do something special for him. On top of all the wonderful things he does for me, he has a tendency to just pick up little things for me here and there just because he knew I wanted them. So for his birthday I decided to put together a book of pictures of things I thought he'd like, and throughout the year I will give him presents a little at a time (32 in total). I focused on some of the geekier stuff that he likes. Here are some pictures of the book I put together!

I had so much fun putting this together, and Tony was really excited by it. Card is coming on another post, as it was also part of a 365 challenge, which will also be back and up running soon!!

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

Crafter of the Month - Mommy Makes

It's back!! This months etsy crafter is Katie from Mommy Makes.

Katie is a stay at home mom (like me!) in Kansas who takes some amazing photos! She really started working with photographs in college, but it fell by the way side after graduation. (I did the same thing with many of my passions.) After she became a mom she picked up her camera again, and I for one am so glad she did.

Today I wanted focus on the craft pictures shes taken, but I really suggest you all take a look at her shop. She has some amazing landscape photos, and still life photos.

All of these would be wonderful craft room decorations. This first one is for my fellow paper crafters.

This shot is so cool! I love how the pencils stand out against the white, and I especially love the light blue pencil standing strait up. Beautifully done. This next one I love even more though.

The close up is so amazing. I especially love that the pencils are off-center. These colors would be so inspiring in a light craft room. I can just see myself staring at while trying to figure out what color paper to use...

Next up- are some for our artist friends.

I love that the paintbrushes all have different colors too. It's a great mix of color and shapes.

Of course with paint brushes you need... paint!!

The sunlit window goes beautifully with the water colors. Again, I love that it's perfectly off center, and the colors are amazing! Katie stated she wanted the viewer to feel "calm and happiness." Goal accomplished!

Here is yet another beautiful picture of water colors.

I love closeups. I think this would go wonderfully as a pair with the previous one. Katie mentioned this reminds her of spring, and I agree. The colors make me think of painting Easter Eggs.

Next: Pastels!

The focus on this is so cool. Again, the colors are so bright, and goes beautifully with the white.

Switching our focus now to all our crafty friends who sew!

My friend is a quilter, and I could totally see this rainbow going above her sewing machine. It continues the theme so far of bright colors on a white backdrop, and would make any room feel so bright! But wait, there's more...

My sister is a seamstress, with a flair for vintage, and cool color combos. (Say that three times fast.) This next picture made me think of her instantly.

I love how the pins form a pattern on the dress form, and the color of the pin cushion is fantastic! The pink, grey and turquoise thred underneath are the perfect compliment. This would be perfect in any seamstress' studio. It also comes in black and white. Intrestingly, my focus shifts to the tape measure in the black and white photo. Also, check out the reflection in the glass table. So cool! Katie said she used some of her mother's supplies from the 70's and 80's. I truly love it.

I am so impressed by these photographs. I plan on purchasing most of them for my craft room as soon as we get it set up.

Before I sign off for today, I want to stress that there are a TON of amazing photographs on this site. I highly suggest you check out the rest of them. Here is one that I really liked (I couldn't pick a favorite.)

Absolutly gorgeous. To buy any of these beautiful works of art, just click on the picture, and it should take you to her site. (if it doesn't please let me know.)

Prints are available in multiple sizes if you request it. She is very accomadating. You also have the choice of matte or glossy finishes. Another thing that I love!!

She also has a blog : KatieLloydPhotography.blogspot.com. It will be added to my blog list as soon as I put one up. :) There is also a twitter and facebook account listed on her profile.

Until then...

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

Note (4/7/11): Soon all prints will be be printed in lustre unless glossy is requested.

ABCDEFGHI..MNO?

The challenge is MNO today. I swear I didn't skip a challenge. It was Pam at 365 I swear! I really liked this challenge though. Here is the link! http://bit.ly/e9RUA5 M - Markers N- Numbers O- Orange Yesterdays shopping trip was very fruitful. I hit both Joanns and Michaels and speant... well, more than I should of. But I got a lot of paper and stickers and cards for future projects, including stuff for the projects that I missed. I made a couple last night, but I'm saving the posts for the weekend, hoping I'll have more time to type then. I also started on my card for today last night. Turns out they post it at midnight, and since I was up, I got a head start. I finished the rest this afternoon though. Here it is! More Butterflies as promised. :) The green paper is scraps that I had in stock. The sticker border is by and the stamp is by Inkadinkado. (That name cracks me up.) I colored in the stamp in the middle, with my markers. It took much longer than I expected, and it's so rewarding when it comes out this nice. The letters I cut out with my cricut which, thankfully, is working again! Yay!!!

Cat Corner "Must...Get...Mouse..." -Felix

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

Happy 23!!!!

This is card 23 of the 365 card challenge! Here is the link!

http://bit.ly/gmxipX

The challenge was g, h, and i of the alphabet:

G- grossgrain

H-heart

I-ink

Here is what I came up with!

I think I went a little crazy with the ink.. but other than that, I like this card. The paper is from a 4.5x6.5 pad called Latte Matstack by DCWV. There are some really neat patterns in there. I'll be using it a lot. The stamps are called All You Need is Love by Inkadinkado. The stickers (yet another part of my V-day gift from Tony) are by Me and My Big Ideas. I'm heading out to the craft stores now. Have a great day all, and keep crafting!

Day 22 - D-E-F of Cards!

Todays challenge was another alphabet one using the letters d,e, and f.

D- distressed

E- envelope

F- fringe

Here is the link:

http://bit.ly/hCiaZV

I hadn't done anything distressed yet, so this was a whole new technique. It turned out to be really easy, and it looks so cool! I'm sure you will be seing more of this in the future!

This is also the begining of several butterfly cards. A friend of mine loves butterflies, and her birthday is coming up, so I will be experimenting with them to get ready!

Cat Corner

Day 21-Laugh

Today's Card challenge was an abc challenge. The instructions were to use the three elements starting with the first three letters of the alphabet: A-Alphabet stickers or stamps B-Blue C-Circles Here is the link http://365cards.blogspot.com/2011/03/day-21-abcs-of-crafting-abc.html I had never seen a challenge like this. It was so goofy. I managed to get all three elements into the card. I may try to make a live and a love card as well. They would be a great combo set! Have a great day and keep crafting!

Day 20 - Joy of Travel

Sundays are sketch days! I have now officially completed one week of cards! This is the sketch that was the challenge.

http://http//365cards.blogspot.com/2011/03/day-20-super-sketchy-sunday.html

I had a some great travel paper packed away that I decided to use. The joy sticker is by K&Company.

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

Day 19- Crush Crush Crush

This weekend was jam packed! And really nice. Unfortunetly though, I fell behind on my card challenges. So I'll be posting the weekends challenges today. I'm still splitting them into seperate posts, just because it's easier to post to the 365 site that way. Here is the link for the challenge:

http://365cards.blogspot.com/2011/03/day-19-imagine-this-crush.html

The idea was to create something that wasn't a love card, but a card about a crush. I went for a spring-feeling card that simply said you and me, instead of suggesting love. I was really happy with the result. I have had this paper by sei cut out for a while, and was unsure what to do with it. The sticker by me and my big ideas (another gift from hubby) was the perfect finishing touch.

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

365 Cards: Day 18 - 3x3 times 3

Here is todays post: 365 Cards: Day 18 - 3x3 times 3: "We have a sweet little challenge for you today, but first... On behalf of the rest of the Design Team, I would like to welcome Jennifer Grec..."

Baby Boys!

Todays challenge involved making 3 - 3x3 cards. I used paper and stickers left over from Sundays project. I ended up making 4 cards. I got a little excited. :) Here they are!

I'm looking for props to take better pictures for baby cards. When I have them done I'll post those too.

That's it for today! Have a great day and keep crafting!

Day 17 - Holy Shamrocks!

Sorry this post is going up today. I finished the card yesterday afternoon, and had planned on finishing this post last night, but I had a little to much, um, fun during our St. Patty's Day celebrations and wasn't in any kind of shape to write.

So yesterday I made a trip to Joanns with hubby in tow. I was surprised that I couldn't find any St. Patricks Day paper. I shouldn't have been, craft stores generally are a holiday ahead of the other stores. (which makes sense since most crafts take time.) After quite a bit of searching, I found a great pad of 8x8 paper called English Moss by Colorbok. There were some really fun papers in there. Then I found one set of St. Patty's Day Embellishments by JoAnn Craft Essentials left hiding in the corner. I am really happy with the out come.

I had some paper left over, so I made two more cards as well.

Cat Corner

Kitty's haven't been posing for pictures lately, so I'm bringing back an oldie but a goody. :)

"Ugh, too much irish catnip. Not a good night." -Stilts

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

365 Cards: Day 17 - Ad Inspired

Here is todays Challenge!! I'm off to the store to find some paper!! See you later with the result!

365 Cards: Day 17 - Ad Inspired: "HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!! Hannah's up today with an ad and her take on the challenge. The ad she selected is quite appropiately very..."

Day 16 - Felix Warhol

Todays challenge took a little more thought then normal. The challenge was to take a piece of abstract art, and use it to make your card. The challenger (Kim from 365) made a beautiful butterfly card based on a Warhol painting. I decided to use another Warhol painting, taking my inspiration from this famous piece.

I took what is currently one of my favorite pictures of Felix:

and cropped it down to this.

The I edited on my handy dandy phone, changing the color and turning it into a comic drawing. Then I cut out the pictures and put them on a card I also made myself. This is the first card I have made using the computer, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I may be doing more like these in the future. :)

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

365 Cards: Day 16 - Abstract Art

Todays challenge! 365 Cards: Day 16 - Abstract Art: "Inspiration is everywhere, but I think one of the very best places has to be in works of art, particularly paintings. But I'm not talk..."

Day 15 - Inspire

I had fun with this challenge. I admit, normally I wouldn't put these colors together. The stickers were a gift from my husband for valentines day. I'm excited to use them!

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

365 Cards: Day 15 - Color Scheme

Todays challenge is to make a card using this color scheme!

Be back later with the finished result! 365 Cards: Day 15 - Color Scheme:

Yummy!!

Here is the card I made for today's challenge, "Fresh Baked Goodness."

The patterned paper is called So Delish-Everything But the Kitchen Sink by TPC Studios. The red patterned paper is called Christmas Plaid by Paper Pizzaz. The stickers are by Lifes Little Occasions.

Virginia went to the store with me and helped pick out the stickers. It was a blast to work with her on a project again. She had a lot of fun going through piles of stickers.

Cat Corner

Dr. Monocle I presume?

Have a great day, and keep crafting!

365 Cards: Day 14 - Fresh Baked Goodness

Todays Challenge:

365 Cards: Day 14 - Fresh Baked Goodness: "I'm back with one last Monday challenge before Heidi returns officially filling the Monday spot. I've chosen the title 'Fresh Baked Goodness..."

Be back soon with my result!!

365 Card Challenge- Day 13

Sunday is sketch day. Pam from 365 Cards posted this design. My card is based off of this design.

I sprang some time looking through my supplies and was delighted to find these baby papers and stickers that I had never used and had completely forgotton about. Here is the completed card!

(Paper by Creative Imagination, stickers by Creative Imagination, blank card by Recollections) I was surprised how little time it took when I sat down to make only one card. I can't wait to see what is next! (This card is for sale at kitkatcards.etsy.com)

365 Cards

Today I discovered a challenge called 365 cards. It is a daily card challenge that seems like a lot of fun. It's only 13 days in, so I'm not too far behind. I will jump in where they are, and try to catch up with the other ones as I go. I'm really looking forward to this, I think a challenge is just what I need. Many of these cards will be up fo sale on Kitkat Cards, so keep an eye out!! I can't wait! Later today I will post the first challenge!

Tweet Tweet!!

Spring is a wonderful time of year. Sun is shining, bees are buzzzing, and the birds are singing. Felix particularly likes the birds. He sits in the window and stares at them while making that clicking sound that uses during the hunt. :) In honor of spring I made some fantastic bird cards, and it was a perfect opportunity to make some birthday cards for friends whose birthdays fall in February and March. I started with these papers from the Birdwatching series by Recollections.

Wings Leaves

Flock

Birds of a Feather I cut apart the paper and merged them into these cards! These first two are presents for friends. This "Dance" card is for my dear friend Karene who is a fantastic dancer in her own right. We celebrated her birthday with a day in Santa Cruz, and a couple days later with a turtle cake!!

This card was for my friend Joanna's birthday back in February. We had a fantastic lunch all together to celebrate.

The rest of these are for sale on kitkatcards.etsy.com.

Laughing Blue Bird

Singing Green Bird

Dark Blue Bird Birthday Card

Kissing Birds Love Card

Free Bird Any Occasion Card

Chirping Bird Birthday Card

Talking Bird Birthday Card

Birthday Blue Bird

Orange Bird Birthday Card

Leafy Hello Card

Leafy Blue Bird Birthday Card

Blue Birds Laugh

Dancing Love Birds

Birthday Birds

I had a blast making these cards. This was the first time I had in a long time to sit and make a bunch of cards. It was really nice, and taking the pictures was so much fun.

Cat Corner

"Bird! Bird!" -Oscar and Felix "Is that another cat?"-Stilts

Have a great day and keep crafting!