2016 Holiday Card Series: Card #1

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and if you did any shopping I hope you found some great deals!!! I LOVE making cards and I feel like Christmas cards are so much! I will be sharing with you my Holiday Card Series beginning today and then continuing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through December 23rd.

Not only will I be sharing with you my creations but I will also link to my friend Teresa's blog at Fresh and Renewed. We hatched this idea together and even though we often made cards either on our own or while we were FaceTiming we have supporting each other on this goal of sharing these cards on our blogs.

Image is from Penny Black "Christmas with Mimi" used black card stock for the base, MFT Pierced Oval, Bo Bunny Glitter Paste in Wasabi on a chevron stencil. I used Marvy Uchida Snow Marker for the hats. Colored image with Copic Sketch Markers. Put Stickles on bow, used black Pearl Pen on eyes for a touch of gloss and Wink of Stella Brush Pen on hearts. The sentiment is from Crafter's Companion stamp set "Home for Christmas" which I heat embossed using Versamark Ink and WOW! detail embossing powder in white. 

 Don't forget the majority of my supplies I get from Scrapping For Less and there are two...count them TWO ways to order with Scrapping For Less. Pre-order recently released materials from the FaceBook Group Scrapping For Less or go to the website at scrappingforless.com to get in stock items shipped to you next day! Happy Creating!

I did a second generation stamp with the "Christmas with Mimi" Stamp so that I could write on top of it without it being difficult to read. 

So come with us and get in the Spirit of the Season whether you are looking for inspiration or just enjoy looking. I hope you make the most of the holidays with your loved ones and that you enjoy my cards as we head toward Christmas Day!



Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :) 

2016 Valentine's Series Begins!!!

Hi ya's!!!

The candy's been on the shelves for weeks now! I walked into the grocery store a couple of days ago and it was chocolates, stuffed animals, forever roses galore...so thus beggineth the Valentine Series!!! I am so excited! I love cutesy images, fun colors, hearts galore, and finding ways to use images that don't typically lend themselves to the holiday of focus and bending them to my will! (Bwahahahaha!!! Hmm I feel as though a holiday built around letting your loved ones know they are special should not bring out the villain laugh in me...oh well! )

The lovely little banner at the top of this post is brought to you by Teresa Russell (I am still working on acquiring such skills). She has been posting her Valentine Series since January 6th. You should definitely check it out over on her blog at Fresh and Renewed. Many thanks to Teresa for making this for us, I had to tweak my dates a little since I was still traveling through the first of the year.

So here we go!

I always use items that are in my stash, the majority of my supplies I order from Scrapping For Less which is a preorder site that Teresa runs on FaceBook. I am sure if you follow this blog for any length of time you will hear about it again and again. :)

The Ingredients:

• textured cardstock
• patterned paper from my stash (thought the hearts on grey were so cute)
• image is from La La Land Crafts (I participate in the La La Land Club Kit it is absolutely worth it! )
• used copic  markers to color the image
• the sentiment is also from La La Land Crafts (is part of the same kit the image came it...told you it was worth it!)
• the pearl spray is a Zva sticker
• the little purple heart is a wood heart that I colored in with a purple Wink of Stella pen

I don't think the photo really shows it but on the buttons on the hat and on her eyes I added Glossy Accents. I also used a Uniball Signo white pen to color the white of her eyes.

 I put in links where I could just in case you see something you would like to add to your arsenal. I don't get any kickbacks or endorsement for any of the products they are what I happened to use while making the card. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)

Barcelona Baby!!!

WHi Everybody!

After finally getting a good night's sleep we got up this morning and had a hearty Irish breakfast before getting on a flight through Ryan Air and flying to Barcelona, Spain. It was a pleasant flight but really tight there was hardly any room to move around but we arrived safe and sound. We quickly shed our coats (as Barcelona is 15 degrees warmer than Dublin) and hopped on a bus that brought us to the Gothic District which is the area we are staying in while in Barcelona. 

This city is beautiful!!! It is vibrant and busy but still open enough to not feel claustrophobic. There are a few remnants still left standing from Christmas but the city seems to be in the process of taking it all down. 

We ate at a wonderful tapas restaurant right around the corner from our flat and the staff was very friendly and attentive and were so helpful and patient while I stumbled through my limited ability to speak Spanish. We had the most delicious sangria I have ever had and then as we were paying our bill and getting ready to leave they popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and poured us each a glass. It was a beautiful and delicious way to start our holiday! 

After dinner we walked around the city and scoped out some of the shops around where we are staying. I for one cannot wait to hit up one of the bakeries for breakfast tomorrow morning and at some point stop at the cheese shop. 

So, happy weekend! I hope you are going to be doing something fun and that will truly make you happy even if it is only for a small amount of time. I look forward to filling you all in on Monday, January 11th as to what we have been up to and may possibly inundate you all with pictures. 

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,

Kim : )

Whew!

I have been packing for two days (a little longer than that because I began packing things we don't use regularly but wanted to take home about a month ago)! I am super excited because we leave tomorrow to travel to Spain for a week for a one last holiday before returning to life back home.

As I just posted on Monday one of my goals this year is to blog consistently and I intend to achieve that goal. I had intended to begin my Valentine's Day card series but my dates are going to be a bit different than I had intended because of the move and the upcoming holiday. So instead I plan to change the content of what will be on the blog until I get back home.

So many bags for just two people! (We brought WAY too much!)


So there will be pictures of Spain coming your way! We have a lot of fun adventures planned for the next week and a couple of chill days to truly relax. I am hoping to get a massage at some point. For some reason whenever we move (even when it's a move I want to make) it tends to be stressful and my shoulders get super tight!!! So I am looking forward to a massage to work all that out.

I wanted to bring so many of the clothes that I have needed while in Dublin home to Florida. I got honest with myself as I packed and packed and packed and then realized I had not yet packed any clothes! So then I took a closer look at the things I wanted to bring back and if I didn't love it then it didn't get packed. Some of the things that I really do like didn't get packed because let's face it I live in Florida and there is just no reason for me to bring back a bunch of things I would only get to wear maybe once a year.

This little crew is getting left behind as well :(  So sad but I probably would not have been able to use them as door stops at home anyway because our dog Cookie would think they were her new buddies and I would probably find them in her crate! Ha ha! 

I would still love to be able to pack the duvet in our guest room and Jamie is still going to help me see if we can purge a little more so we can get it in but I'm not holding my breath. Good thing I wasn't holding my breath I would have come to on the floor! There's just no room for it boo! 

I love this duvet the flowers make me so happy! 

Even though I will not be featuring my Valentine's Day series until Wednesday January 20th I don't want to leave you without some inspiration so I am going to send you over to one of my favorite gal pals Teresa so you can see what she's been up to! Head over to freshandrenewed.blogspot.com for some inspiration!