Go Take a Look and Get Your Own Newton's Nook!!!

Welcome to Newton's Nook: Holiday Release @Scrapping for Less!

I am so excited to announce that ScrappingForLess.com is now carrying Newton's Nook!!! If you are new to Newton he is an adorable cat that has been the inspiration for some of the stamps over at Newton's Nook Designs. I love their stamps! They are high quality, fun to color and even more fun to create with.

The stamp set that I am working with is "Holiday Hounds" which is full of wonderful dachshunds! I don't have a wiener dog myself but I sure do love them. They are so very adorable and I do have several friends that have doxies in their lives. Which in my mind makes this stamp even more perfect for making Christmas cards and tags with these cute little critters.

So here is what I did with these little doxies:

By clicking here you can grab your own set!

 When the website opened we had a grand opening and one of the questions that Teresa (the owner of Scrapping For Less) asked everyone is "What other companies would you like to see on the website that I currently don't carry?"

Here is the beautiful and exciting part...Newton's Nook was one of the companies mentioned to her in answer to that question and now within a month of the website opening Newton's Nook is being added! It is so exciting to see something come into existence especially because a company LISTENED to the feedback of its customers! It is this type of customer service, the willingness to find out what her customers want to see and then to go out and make it happen for them that makes me so proud to be a part of Scrapping For Less FaceBook Group and now ScrappingForLess.com!


  Leave a comment on each blog and you will be entered into a random drawing for a product goodie! Also, since this release focuses on the holidays all of the Newton Nook offerings are from their holiday line up. So go take a look at this wonderful stamping company and see if you are able to look through the stamps and not find one that you just have to have, (for me I won't be able to stop at just one)!   ;)

Your next stop in this blog hop is
Stacy Tiedemann 


Here is the Line Up For the Blog Hop (so you make sure you got everyone to get entered for the drawing!)
Scrapping For Less Blog

Yvonne Morentin -Adventure Of The Creative Mind
Sandy Bell Hentzel
Teresa Russell
Kimberly Smith (you are here)
Stacy Tiedemann

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :) 
 

Our App Is Up!!!!

 I am so excited to FINALLY get to share this information!!! An app I have wanted for quite some time now exists and what do we want to do with the apps we love? SHARE THEM!!!

The Fast Facts:

• App name is Organize My Dies
• it's FREE
• available on iTunes App Store and on Google Play  
• works on iPhone and Android

What It Does:

• a convenient system that allows you to organize the dies you own, create a wish list for the dies you want and NEVER buy a duplicate die again! (I never thought it would happen to me either...and then it did) 

There will be updates coming in the future as we add more companies and more features and of course fix anything that needs fixing as there is always something that can be tweaked or improved upon.

What The Heck is a Die?:

• A die is a sharp, thin metal piece that cuts through paper and other materials when rolled through a die cutting machine (like a Big Kick, Cuttlebug, or Vagabond) thus creating whatever shape the die makes. (Think hearts, stars, flowers, circles etc.)  

In the world of card making, scrapbooking, and paper crafting they are very handy tools in creating whatever project you may be working on. Below is a picture of some of the dies I own.

my pile o' dies

my die machine

BACKSTORY:

  Over the last several years my collection of metal dies has been growing and with new releases coming every month it continues to grow. A few different scenarios kept coming up for me. I would be in a store and would walk up on a clearance sale and ended up not buying any of the dies that were at an AMAZING price because I didn't know off the top of my head what I already owned (and these clearanced items couldn't be returned). Not a life changing moment I will agree but frustrating nonetheless.  OR
I would be at a friends' house and we would be talking about a card series we wanted to do together and brainstorming, sharing ideas for cards and then the last step was to compare what we both owned and what we would need to share because only one of us owned said item. This conversation got put on hold until I could physically be at my house to check my stash. Again, not the end of the world I know, however if any of you have experienced that connection when an idea is coming together and you are feeding off of each others' ideas and then it all comes to a halt for whatever reason and you try to pick up later where you left off and it is NEVER the same energy...that frustrates me to no end!!!

After having this happen over and over for the last several years I thought "how great would it be if there was an app that I could carry with me on my phone (which I take with me everywhere like it's a body part -go ahead judge me) that I could check any time I needed to see what is in my stash and then I don't have to worry about buying duplicates or my inability to keep a running catalog in my mind of everything I own?" Well I thought it would be STINKING FANTASTIC but alas no apps of that sort existed. And then, light bulb moment,  I don't know how to build an app but my husband was currently in school becoming a software developer and mobile app developing was one of the skills he was in the processing of acquiring.

So I waited, and waited, and I am not a patient person, but I waited. Then the moment arrived when he was able to think about doing his own project and that is when I presented my idea one evening in between our TV time hanging out on the couch together. I thought he was just humoring me since I got the "I'll think about it" so we went back to TV time. We didn't make it through a full 30 minute episode before he was pausing the show to ask more questions about my idea and what exactly I was looking for and then I knew...he's gonna build it!

And now here it is! Ready to use, ready to share, ready to talk about and I am so excited because it will solve a problem for me and I cannot be the ONLY person who has experienced this frustration will the cataloging of my dies. The bonus of it all is that my husband created the app and I am over the moon proud of him!!! This app fills my heart with joy as I add my dies and I can filter by company name or die name it has even begun to make my blogging easier!

Thank you so much for listening and please check out the app if it would be a help to you and your creative needs. Feedback is absolutely welcome and desired so please if you are willing to leave a comment and a rating.

Wishing you Sunshine, Smiles & Cards,
Kim :)

Scrapbook Blessings Club Challenge: Christmas Card Valentine

I have decided to participate in February's challenge over at Scrapbook Blessings Club or SBC for short. It is quite a clever challenge! The rules are this: you can make whatever you like (I made a card-surprising I know) it has to be a Valentine related item and here's the challenge...wait for it...you must make your Valentine related item with CHRISTMAS SUPPLIES!!!

So clever! I read about this challenge on their blog a couple of days ago and really wanted to participate but was afraid that I might be too late. Lucky for me (and even you, if you are so inclined) entries are accepted until the last day of the month by 11pm. It was a lot of fun digging into my Christmas stash and deciding what could be used to create a Valentine's card. It turned out to be quite easy so many items were just wintry and not exclusively Christmas related.

These are the items that I pulled together for this card:

 Ingredients:

• I used the sentiment from the La La Land stamp set "Marci with Christmas Ornament" well a piece of the sentiment I masked off the words I didn't want
• I have no clue where the patterned paper comes from because it was in my Christmas stash :(   Sorry
• the little snowman is C.C. Designs "Nerdy Snowman"
• the snowflakes were made with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch (the snowflake border punch just wasn't working for me)
• I punched a heart out with a punch from Creative Memories "Friendship Micro Marker"
• I covered the snowflakes with clear Wink of Stella pen to make them sparkly, I also colored in the heart with a pink Wink of Stella
• since the little nerdy snowman is wearing glasses I filled the lenses in with Glossy Accents
• I still felt like it was missing something so I added Stickles in frosted lace to create the look of snow

Here it is, isn't he adorable? I am very happy with him and will have to save him for someone really special. As per my usual most of these supplies (if not all of them) were acquired from Scrapping For Less. If you are up to the challenge I encourage you to go over to Scrapbook Blessings Club and give it a go! Oh and please feel free to leave any comments down below and thank you so much for stopping by!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)