Creative Clutter???

This is funny to me and I thought I would share my work space. My wonderful hubby redid our basement and I got a fabulous corner of it for my "stuff". Even though its only a corner, I have lots of storage and a nice counter top although I say that a gal can never have enough flat counter top space. Oh well. But this is the kicker. I end up covering up my space so much that by the time I'm done with card making, I've relegated maybe an 8x8 space where I actually work. I end up with stuff stacked on top of each other as I go from one card to the next. I just push everything outward until I get that small 8x8 or smaller space to lay my project down.

Does your space end up looking like this is too? I just laugh - it all cleans up at the end doesn't it?

Thanks for stopping by...

~Katie

Friendship Sketch Card

I have been doing my best to do sketch challenges here and there. Here is one that Lauren Meader is hosting on her blog every Saturday. So far, I like the sketches because it gives you some place to start and you don't get stuck staring at a blank card.

I don't think I've ever used black as a card base, but for this card it is perfect. I just lined it with computer paper in the inside so I or somebody else can write or stamp a sentiment inside.

Cardstock: black (CTMH)
Printed paper: "Silhouettes" (CTMH)
Stamp: Stampin Up
Ink: Versamark
Other: White embossing powder, heat gun, 1 1/8 circle punch, prima paper flowers, misc. brads

Thanks for coming by and visiting!

~Katie

Happy Mother's Day

Here is another card using mostly Papertrey ink stamps. Again, I just have to say I really enjoy these flowers. Its a bit busy, but because the ink is in pastels, I think I can get a way with it. Its definitely not my favorite, but it will do. The dots in the center of the flowers were done by kissing the solid circle stamps from Women of Life onto the Polka Dot Basics stamps.

Cardstock: GP (Walmart), Heavenly Blue, Baby Pink (CTMH)
Ink: Spring Pansey, Aloe Vera, Sea Breeze, Pixie Dust (Versamagic Dew Drops) Grey Wool (CTMH)
Stamps: Women of Life, Polka Dot Basics (Paptertrey ink)
Ribbon: Offray
Other: Stampin up Ticket punch, bling (Hero Arts)

Thanks for coming to visit.

~Katie

Papertrey ink - NO Stamps

Hi all! Just a quickie post to show off the fabulous paper and ribbon from Papertrey ink. Its so soft and romantic looking.

Miscellaneous Brad, scallops created by using the EK Success corner rounder, Stampin Up Ticket Punch, Paper piercer, cuttlebug flower diecuts, sewing.

Other than that, life is life here in the NW. If anybody is looking, there are no decent/affordable shoes around here. I went out looking for two pairs for the twins and I had to settle. You know how that goes. I really didn't want to nor had the time to spend looking for the perfect matching pair of shoes. Maybe I should have, the way those two boys grow, they will be in the same size for the next year! Oh well.

Hope everyone has a good day!

~Katie

Reese's Minis too pretty to eat

So this is what I have been working on slowly but surely. Ever since the very first time I saw nugget boxes I was hooked. For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, they are the Hershey Nuggets that can be bought in most grocery stores. Well, some ingenious person thought they would make great gifts all dressed up. I don't even remember where I saw them first, but I thought they were fabulous. There are patterns for just about every size made from cardstock that you can imagine. Click -> here <- for those. Then I saw these nuggets in tins and again WOW - how cool. Well, Nichole over at Papertrey ink made the PERFECT stamps to stamp on labels to gussy up these fab bits of candy and along the way, I know that I saw somebody cover up the tops of mints or the Reese's peanut butter cups too.

So... my project is born. I love my new set "Women of Life" from Papertrey and thought they would be perfect stamped and cut out. These are one of my favorite color combos.

Cardstock: Stampers Choice (white) - Papertrey, Hollyhock, Indian Corn Blue (CTMH)
Ink: Hollyhock, Indian Cornblue, Goldrush Garden Green (CTMH)
Stamps: "Women of Life" (Papertrey ink), "Kindred Spirits" (butterfly) - CTMH
Other: Rectangular Nestablities scallops and plain, paper piercer, cricut (scallop circles)

Thanks for stopping by.

~Katie

Celebrate in a mousy sort of way

So what do you think of my new stamp? I had to go into my stamping store (looking for donations) and while I was there... This is my first House Mouse stamp and I couldn't resist and I don't even like rodents! These very cute mouse stamps are all over the cricut message board and... Anyway, cupcakes are all the rage these days too and this stamp had both - imagine that!

I'm working on the coloring thing and I don't have the right colors of copics and I don't have any gamsol, so I had to go the water coloring route. You know, its not the best, but it still turned out and I stayed in the lines :)

Cardstock: Brown Bag, Blush (CTMH)
Stamp: House Mouse, "Happy Birthday" (CTMH)
Ink: Archival Black, Pink Dewdrop
Other: Prisma Watercolor Pencils, Prima Flowers, Ticket Punch, Round Tab Punch (Stampin Up), Liquid Pearls, Silver Brads, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

~Katie

A Very Special Delivery

Good morning! This project combined a few elements in one - the cricut challenge with my friend, the use of my new favorite stamps, and a great idea from a fabulous blog. Please check out Lauren Meader's blog. This is where I got my inspiration for this particular project. I couldn't remember how she had put hers together so I did my own thing with this one.

I absolutely love the colors (all new from Papertrey ink). Its a perfect little gift container for a baby shower or even as favors.

Cricut cut is the baby buggy with rabbit from Zooballoo. I glued several layers together and pop dotted it off the box.

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White Cardstock, Aqua Mist (papertrey ink)
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Limitless Labels, Faux Ribbon (Papertrey ink)
Ink: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss (Papertrey ink), Baby Pink (CTMH)
Ribbon: Aqua Mist (Papertrey ink), Sheer Creations (Michaels)
Other: White Brads, Rectangular Scallop Nestabilities, hole punch, red liner tape, scor-pal , cuttlebug

I'm off to have fun with some new stamping friends today. I hope you all have a great day and weekend.

~Katie

Dad - off my timeline

Ok, so I know that Father's Day is a bit off from now, but I have been wanting to make this little shirt ever since I saw it last Father's Day on Cambria's blog. She's got a great tutorial using the scor-pal of course. It is so cute and fun to make.

Cardstock: Colonial White, Twilight (CTMH), Printed Paper is from a stack -I'm assuming DCWV, but don't know for sure - Its double sided which is fabulous. The dad is cut out by my cricut (Plantin Schoolbook)

Hope everyone has a fabulous day! I'm off to Paper Zone to use my coupon :)

~Katie

Some pretty cards from Papertrey

Good morning! I'm posting early today - yeah! Well, I got my new Papertrey goodies yesterday but didn't get a chance to play until last night. I had to watch American Idol first :) It will be a good season this year.

So here are a couple of cards that I did last night and let me say they went together so easily. Most everything on both these cards is from Papertrey and both are from the new products that were just released. There are two sentiments (the words love and friend) they are from "Mixed Messages"

Paper: Aquamist, Moss Green, and Everyday Blessings Printed Paper
Ink: Aquamist, Moss Green (Pallette Inks), Grey Wool (CTMH), Versa mark
Stamps: Women of Life, Polka Dot Basics, Mixed messages
Embellishments: Ribbon, pewter eyelets (CTMH)
Other: White Embossing Powder, Heat gun, Photo Corner Die from Quickutz


Its kind of hard to see but I used the circle set and embossed with white powder and put a tiny greeting in one of the circles. It added a nice touch to the card.

Hope you enjoyed looking and have a great day - its raining here again, although we did have an awesome weekend.

~Katie

Nugget Container and Brotherly Love

It was so nice to have all of us home yesterday for that extra day. Here is a picture of Will and Hunter hanging out in front of the computer. I don't get see Hunter interacting with the twins (or at least one of them) like this very often so I'm glad that I had the camera on hand.

UPS delivers on Monday - woo hoo, and I got some nugget tins delivered. I love these containers, they are so pretty with the see through window. Another alternative to one made out of paper. Anyway, I really wanted to decorate one and I of course used the PERFECT stamp set for nuggets which can be found HERE.

This is a perfect gift for fall since that is the time we all start to build up our winter layer (unfortunately I still have one or more left over), but really, these are great gifts all year long. Who doesn't love chocolate?




Paper (just a little): Olive, White Daisy (stamped on), Goldrush, and Garden Green (CTMH)
Ink: Olive, Goldrush (CTMH)
Stamps: Limitless Labels (Papertrey ink)
Other: Ribbon (Home & More - Michaels), Twine

Now off to play with my new Papertrey goodies that arrived today!

Have a great day!

~Katie

Cricut Challenge Card

This week's challenge was to use the Speech Blurb from the George cartridge. I have to honestly say, I have never used this cut EVER, but here it is:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Clover Green, Pink Carnation (CTMH)
Ink: Cocoa, Clover Green, Pink Carnation (CTMH), Black Versafine, Creamy Brown Chalk, Chestnut Roan Chalk (ColorBox)
Stamps: Card Sentiments, Friendship Flowers (CTMH), Prezzibella (Stampingbella)
Embellishments: Rhinestones (CTMH)
Tools: Cricut Expression, George Cartridge, Prisma Watercolor pencils, waterbrush

Hope you likey.

~Katie

Sketch Card

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Here is a picture of Beate's weekend sketch and my card that I did. My card is pretty cut and dried. I stamped my flower image with Grey Wool and then used my waterbrush to color in.

Paper: Paper Garden (CTMH)
Ink: Grey Wool, Blush, Sweet Leaf (CTMH)
Stamps: Simple Beauty (CTMH), Sentiment (Papertrey ink)
Other: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Rectangles, Waterbrush, sewing, conchos (CTMH)

Thanks for checking it out.

~Katie

Squealing with Excitement!!!!

Ok, now that I wrote my title, the squealing description just doesn't sound very attractive, but I am SOOOOO terribly excited. I just got an e-mail from THE Nichole Heady from Papertrey ink that my card that I submitted for the Guest Star Stamper got an honorable mention. I guess its sad because its not like I won for the entry, but I am just as excited and thrilled as if I had. Here is my card.

Thank you for sharing this with me. My husband thinks I'm crazed, but that's ok :) Click HERE to see the winners' way cool entries and the other beautiful honorable mentions. Vote for your favorite by leaving a comment.

(grinning from ear to ear) ~Katie

Sorry I don't have a picture of me, but it probably would be just too goofy.

Its LOVE Day - can you feel it in the air?

Good morning all! I do feel the love, but I also smell the stinky diapers that I need to change (ha, ha). I'm trying my darndest to shower, get the boys ready, and head on over to a twins playdate by 9:30am. I'm close and as you can see, I have a quick moment to post. Not too bad huh?

Here is a picture of the Valentines that Hunter and I made for his class. I did all the cutting and did help him, but I by no means did all the work for him. He folded, stamped, glued and of course wrote on them. He is also the one that chose the paper - blue for boys and pink for girls (like duh...) I did pick the design which is the pocket card because it works perfectly for the Valentines.

Stamps and ink are CTMH, Sheer Creations Ribbon and the rest is from stash :)

Ok, gotta run.

~Katie

Sleeping like a baby (ok toddler)

Aright! I am apologizing ahead of time because I seem to have lots of twin pics recently. I promise to post a card or something later, but I just couldn't resist this one...

This is a picture of Nate sleeping at nap time. As usual, I like to check in on them and could see Nate through the door. I first assumed that he was awake, but when he didn't move I had to run downstairs to get the camera. (grinning)

~Katie

Graduation to the Table

Ok, I just had to share this photo of the boys eating at the table. They have officially moved to the table and no longer want to eat on the trays. Its time to get real booster seats now.

Both of them were beginning to really fight us when it was time to sit down for dinner, but they seem much more inclined to sit down now that they can sit with all of us. It changes the whole feel of dinner now that they have joined us as a group - for the better.

I know every parent thinks their children are just the "cutest" but aren't they? But really only because its the beginning of dinner and neither one of them has put their plate/bowl on top of their head or run their fingers fill with "fill in the blank" and run it through their hair like it was hair gel. :0

Thanks for taking the time to peek in on them.

~Katie

Sketch Card

Hurray! This is my very first sketch that I am participating in. It is Beate's from SCS and it was fun. Its late, but I think I am just squeaking by.

Everything is CTMH except for the ribbon which is Offray.

~Katie

Gift Box for a Mommy

Here is a box I made for my friend Lisa. She had the cutest baby set to put in it - little black pants, a white shirt with little scotties at the bottom, and a pair of socks to match. ( I forgot to take a picture of the little outfit :(

The box measures 6 x 8 x 2 and I made it using my scor pal. I cut the onesie insert using my cricut expression and design studio. It has a transparency attached to the underside. One of the requests by Lisa was that people could see inside the box to see the outfit and I thought a shaped insert would be so much cuter than just a square window. The baby bottle and the onesie cut are from the New Arrival cartridge.

I absolutely love making personalized boxes!!!

Paper: is all from Michaels (MAMBI, Paper Company
Photo corners are from Quickutz
Bling: CTMH




















Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
Ribbon: CTMH
Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder, EK Success corner rounder (used to make the scallops) hole punch

Kind of unusual colors for a baby, but it works and looks pretty to boot!

Hope you enjoy your day.

~Katie

Inspirational and a touch of spring

"To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world."
-Josephine Billings

What a nice quote, huh? And so true. That quote and the stamp is from Papertrey ink and it is so light and springy looking, which is exactly what I need today. It is raining again...

The boys don't mind though, they wanted to go for a walk this morning and mean mommy had to say no.

Everything is CTMH except for the stamp and sentiment. I also added some silky fiber as little buds in between the leaves. I can't remember the name of the technique that cross stitchers use get that look, but since I didn't have enough of the ribbon, all I did was tie the end in a know and then poke it through, cut and taped on the back. Because it was bulky on the back side I used thin pop dots to lift it off the other piece of cardstock. Which by the way was cut with the rectangular nestabilities set. Those things are wonderful.

I hope you are enjoying your weather whatever it may be wherever you may be.

~Katie

Craft Critique

To all you crafters out there (hellooo, hellooo). Check out this great site that I ran across a while back called Craft Critique. On there you will find all sorts of critiques and opinions about some of the latest craft products available from paper to tools. Plus, there are pictures of examples using all these great products. This is a great way to check out the goods before handing over the moolah! Its always a good thing to be informed :)

That's my plug for today!

~Katie

Need a new handbag??

The day is practically over, but I do have a project to share. This week's cricut challenge was to use the purse cut from the Tags, Boxes, Bags and More cartridge. I have the expression (big bug) and I cut mine to fit to page using the 12x24 mat. It turned out to be 5 1/4" tall, 6" wide at the base, and 2 1/2" deep at the bottom.

The purse turned out ok, but it took me forever. I started it and had a vision in mind and I ended up changing it and adding things so it would look better. All I can say is "que sera, sera". With only 3 boys, I guess I need to find a little girl to give this too.

Paper: White is art paper from Michaels, Black cartstock - CTMH
Ink: CTMH, Versamark, Chestnut Roan Chalk - Colorbox
Stamps: Flourishes - CTMH
Ribbon: Joann's

Other: Brads and Photo Hinge - CTMH, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Quickutz photocorner die, sandpaper, Basic Grey magnet

Hope everyone had a great weekend - its almost over :(

~Katie

Cute x 2

FYI - Nate is in the red and Will is in the green :)

I haven't made anything crafty today yet, although I do have a challenge to work on for tomorrow. It will have to wait until all the kids are asleep tonight, but...

I wanted to share a picture of the twins right after their nap. They have been doing incredibly well sleeping in their new toddler beds as well as sleeping separately. The separately is about 1/2 and 1/2 at this point. It started out that Will would go sleep with Nate, but the last few nights we have found Nate in Will's bed. Will's bed is their original crib and is in the same place so I guess it makes sense. I've actually been impressed at how well they stay in those oh so cute beds.

This time has been a bit different for us with the transition from crib to bed. Hunter didn't transition until he was 3+ and we just went for a twin bed. Well, let me restate, we bought an Ikea bed that shrunk down to this really cute and essentially square bed. He's 8 now and we have pulled it out to its full size and he still sleeps in that same bed.


Hopefully, I'll get to a card or craft post tonight.

Thanks everyone!! Have a great weekend.

~Katie

Enjoy the Moment

That phrase says it all doesn't it? I have a "enjoy the moment" to share. I came upstairs really late last night and I got all settled in bed and then I heard a very soft thud. I was sure that one of the boys had rolled off their bed so I lay very still and listened. I didn't hear anything and when I peeked over I was sure I saw a figure standing at the door - we have a paned door that separates the boys' room and ours. Well sure enough one of them just stood there. It seemed like forever and I wanted to be really, really still and sure enough, he went back to bed. Then this morning when we peeked in - there was Nate sleeping in Will's bed. I just love the fact that he went back to bed all by himself. Now that's a good moment.

So here is the other card I finished last night. I guess I was in a "leafy" mood and when leaves are on the mind I tend to think fall, but I didn't want fall colors so the next option was green :) I cut out the leaf shape using a cartridge called Stretch Your
Imagination from my cricut E, used the negative and
sponged in the color. I then used my sewing machine (w/out the thread) to make the holes. I love the simplicity of it.

Paper, Ink: CTMH
Sentiment Stamp: PAPERTREYink
Ribbon: Offray
Other: sewing, cricut

Hope everyone has a great day today!

~Katie

The Secret of Staying Young is...

So what is your secret?

Alright, another late night but that's ok because I got a lot of laundry done. That is always a GOOD thing. In between being a domestic goddess I created a couple of cards.

I have really wanted to try the faux silk technique that was posted on SCS and I finally got around to it. It is so simple and looks so cool at the end.

I tried to get a closer shot so you could see the detail a bit better.

Paper, Ink, Sentiment: CTMH
Leaf Stamp: Hero Arts
Ribbon: Martha Stewart
Other: My cricut for the circle and scallop

Sleep tight!!!

~Katie

I need a bigger bed

I know that many of you Moms and Dads can relate, but a queen size bed is just not big enough for me, my husband, 2 two year olds, 2 "bear bears", an extra large Winnie the Pooh. The boys are really very good sleepers, but on that occasional evening when one of them gets upset, it generally wakes up the other one and its just too hard to resist letting them come snuggle in bed with us *sigh*. So, curled up on the very edge of the bed I finished off my night's sleep.

Kevin's big gripe usually has to do with those nubby bottoms on the feet of the boys' sleepers. He doesn't think they feel all that great when the boys are pushing at him with their feet. Hmmm... I don't know why not.

Anyway, here is the goodie I want to share. Are you sick of hearts and sweets yet??? Of course not, who could get tired of chocolate surrounded by something pretty.

I found this oh so cute little wrap on Nichole Heady's blog. I never realized what could be done with those chocolate nuggets.

Stamps: PAPERTREYink, Stampendous (sentiment)
Paper: CTMH
Ink: CTMH
Embellishment: CTMH ribbon
Other: Cricut (tag)

Hope everyone has a great day!

~Katie

Hugs and Kisses

This is a late night post for me, but I wanted to get it done because I have something waiting for tomorrow :) I am quite pleased with the way this turned out. I actually had the bag made but added the band and tag around it tonight. It's amazing how much this little thing holds too! I got almost half a bag of kisses in there. I wish I had had pink m&m's or some sort of pink candy to put in there too, but since I didn't and I wanted to catch the pink, I just used crimped paper. Pink and grey is always such a sweet combination. I wanted to stray a bit from the red for Valentine's Day.

Here's a close up of my heart.

The box/bag is made out of a sheet of transparency. I embossed the flourishes with silver embossing powder as well as the heart. The hearts area all pop dotted - gives such great dimension. The embossing around the pink band was done with my Cuttlebug.

Everything is CTMH except for the sentiment "hugs and kisses". That is from PAPERTREYink. The colors are Baby Pink and Grey Wool.

Thanks for checking it out!! Sleep tight.

~Katie

Rain, Rain, go away - Friends Brighten Your Day

I got this new stamp set in the mail and I love it. It just speaks to me because of living in the Northwest. Its not like we Washingtonians aren't used to the rain, but... I love living here, but yesterday I felt just a little blue and I knew that I wanted to make a card in blues and with my new stamp set. Plus it has been cold too and then you add the rain on top of it and it can down right get gloomy.

I didn't get around to making this card until last night, but I like it. Hope you do too.
All cardstock (moonstruck and garden green), inks, button, and ribbon is CTMH. The stamp set is called Rain or Shine from My Favorite Things and the flower is Prima. The really cool thing is that the flower was FREE (a gift) from eclectic Paperie and was in my order as a celebration for the 1 year anniversary. How cool is that !?!

Hope everyone has a great day.

~Katie

Friendly Challenge - Another pocket card

Earlier this week, a friend of mine and I were talking and I was complaining about how I felt like my poor cricut machine was being neglected and she suggested we start a challenge. What a fab idea I thought. So, every week we are going to pick a shape and do a project using that particular die cut shape. She of course was on the ball and got hers done and to boot finished two projects, while I just finished mine.

I have had pocket cards on my mind so I made another one incorporating our chosen cut which was the scalloped heart from the Doodlecharms Cartridge. Click HERE for the great tutorial by Vicki Hook! (Keep scrolling its towards the bottom). This time around though, I made the card a little bit bigger because I don't intend to mail it, but you could make your own custom envelope to fit. Shhh... don't tell my hubby - its for him :)

All paper, inks, stamps from CTMH. Ribbon is from Michaels.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

~Katie

The sleeping saga continues...

Good morning! And it is good! Oh, I'm being a bit melodramatic in regards to the twins. It really isn't a saga, but it will make for some very cute scrapbooking pages and story. Our boys have really been very easy and they are such good sleepers. If I could only bless every parent with small children with peaceful nights and nap times.

So as you know, last night was their very first official night in not only separate beds but toddler beds at that. And OH MY, those toddler beds are just too cute and to have 2 of them is even cuter!!! But as my story continues, what is a mommy to do but worry... Here are the pictures of their progress throughout the night. Needless to say, they did great and slept just fine. Help me by wishing me luck to their continued smooth transition.

This is Will who isn't very happy - can you tell??


























































Awww shucks - is that not the cutest! We figured they would end up together, but the sight is much cuter than the thought. That's Nate sleeping sideways. They are both in his bed so Will brought his pillow over.



































Alls well that ends well... would you ever wake a sleeping child??? No way, the carpet is clean :) They were both great sports as I was clicking away in the middle of the night. They just kept snoozing.

Thanks for letting me share with you!

~Katie

I've been busy - Card Class

Yes, I've been busy (mostly thinking and then cutting last night). I was asked to participate in a fund raiser that one of my club members is hosting today. My job was to come up with two cards to teach. My requirement for myself was to make the two cards different from each other in style as well as design. Here is what I came up with.

The first card is simple in the sense that it has one designer paper covering the entire front and then an accent piece offset to the left. The little squares are cut from a piece of random stamped card stock that I used the embossing resist technique. Click HERE to see the tutorial from Splitcoaststampers. This technique can be a little time consuming, but it is so soothing to do and the results are beautiful.

All the paper, ink, and stamps are Close to my Heart. What is so great about the paper from CTMH is that it ALWAYS works together and for those of us who don't want to struggle over mixing and matching - wahlah! Its done for us! Very Springy I thought.

Here is a picture of the sheet of embossed resist before I cut it up. I used 4 different inks plus the versamark and clear embossing powder.

Here is the picture of the whole deal - card that we are making and all the pieces I need to create it. I hope the ladies like it.


So here is the second card. It is a card holder that I found while browsing blogs. Click HERE for the tutorial. I've never seen a TAC catalog, but I'd love to check one out someday. I can browse online, but its just not quite the same.

Anyway, here is my version using of course all CTMH goodies. Can you say awesome paper. I just can't get enough of this paper. I paired it with a little bit of red to kind of, sort of relate it to the big Heart day, but it wouldn't necessarily have to be for Valentine's Day. You could also switch from the oval insert to a rectangular one and put a gift card in there too. What is cool too, is that the whole little card fits into your standard A2 envelope.

And here again is a picture of all the pieces to make this great little card!!

~Katie