Friday, October 24, 2014

Faith Based Friday ~ Prayer Journal

Hello friends!

Today is a very special Faith Based Friday because I'm featuring one of my very favorite classes I have ever offered.  My stamping business has always been more of a ministry than a business to me.  It's been about developing friendships and giving women a creative outlet to escape the stresses of every day life and, when ever I can, ministering to their spiritual needs.  Before I go to far in to this post, I am going to say that some of the stamps we used for this project are NOT Stampin' Up! stamps and many of my fellow demonstrators would point out that it's not good "business" to use non-Stampin' Up! stamps at one of my classes and normally I would agree.  But this class really isn't a "business" venture for me ... it's part of that "ministry" where I just want women to be blessed by the work that they are doing.  So for this class, I wanted to use a variety of Christian stamps and, unfortunately, Stampin' Up! just doesn't have as many Christian stamps as I would like ... I have ALL of their Christian stamps, but I don't think you can ever have too many and so I do own some non-Stampin' Up! Christian stamps.

So anyway ... on with my post.  This journal was inspired by my upline, Ronda Wade.  She recently did a gratitude journal class and I took the long-distance version of that class.  I always love Ronda's faith-based projects and this was no exception.  I advertised this class as a Gratitude Journal class, but as you will see, it evolved in to several different type of journal options as I was planning it out.  Part of that evolution happened when my demonstrator friend, Ruth, shared THIS BLOG POST with me and I loved the title of the journal ... Peaks, Pits, Praises and Prayers.  I also loved the concept behind blogging in that way .... each day you write about:

  • Peaks ~  What was the highlight or best part of the day.
  • Pits ~ What was a challenge or low point of the day, but instead of just complaining about it, write about how it may have been a blessing.
  • Praises ~ What do you want to Praise God for that happened today.
  • Prayers ~ What prayer needs came out of the day
It's such a SIMPLE way of journaling that I've started using it and I just LOVE it.  But I wanted to offer my customers some options on the title of their journal, so as you will see, there were a few versions that came out of the class.  The following photos show you the covers of the journals and then just a little bit of the stamping that we did inside.  (Most of our time was spent stamping the inside of the journal.)



 
 





 
 
Don't you just love this journal?  It would make a BEAUTIFUL Christmas Gift!  I'm offering private classes on select dates through November and December to make this journal.  The cost is $20 per person and it includes everything you need to make the journal as well as two Project Life journaling pens that work beautifully for journaling.  That's an excellent deal on a beautiful and very special Christmas gift.  If you are interested in hosting a private class, please email me ASAP to secure a date at madrid_kk@yahoo.com 


Until next time, friends ... here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very blessed day!

Kim


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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

I love CASEing

Hello friends!

Before I share today's card, I should probably explain my title to some of you.  If you're an avid Stampin' Up! fan, you probably already know what the acronym CASE stands for ... but in case you're not familiar, Stampin' Up! promotes a concept called CASE ~ Copy And Share Everything.  Basically, the idea is that we don't have come up with every idea all by ourselves ... if you see something on line or in person that you love, Stampin' Up! promotes that copying is the most sincere form of flattery.  (Of course, you always want to give credit where credit is due and disclose where your inspiration came from.)

So anyway, as a demonstrator, I receive a bi-monthly magazine called Stampin' Success.  This magazine has updates for demonstrators on new products or techniques and is loaded with pictures of samples for inspiration.  This month's magazine had a beautiful card using this "Newborn King" set and I just LOVED the card!  (Since it's in a demonstrator-only magazine, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share a picture of the original card here or not.  But it was red and gold and slightly different looking in he magazine than what I've done here.)  Sometimes I CASE something EXACTLY the way I find it because I just love it so much, I want to recreate it exactly, but usually I try to put my own spin on it and make it a little different.  So anyway ... here's the card:

 
I bought this set immediately after it was released but after several attempts to use it, I was really not pleased with any of my designs.  I just LOVE this card, though!  I can't wait to do some variations of this card!  As usual, my supplies are listed below.  If you would like to purchase any of the supplies, just click on one of the images and it will take you directly to that item in my online store.
 
I hope you enjoyed todays card and I thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very Blessed day!
 
Kim

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Monday, October 20, 2014

My first video!

Hello friends!

I'm so glad you stopped by today.  It's a super exciting day for me on my blog today because I am FINALLY posting a video tutorial.  Now, I should preface your viewing by saying that it's nothing fancy ... I definitely have A LOT to learn about filming videos ... but I've been wanting to film some tutorials because sometimes you see a card and you love it, but you're just not quite sure HOW to do it.  That's where video tutorials will come in handy!

Today's video is a 101 level video just reviewing the different types of stamps that Stampin' Up! offers and how to mount and stamp with them.  I hope you enjoy it:



I'm not sure what happened, but toward the end of the video I just randomly have some ink on the back of my hand.  LOL   I guess you haven't REALLY stamped until you get ink on your hands!

I would love it if you share your comments below ... especially if you have any ideas on specific videos you would like to see me do. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Until next time, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very blessed day!

Kim
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Friday, October 17, 2014

Faith Based Friday

 
Hello friends ... and happy Friday!
 
Isn't the scripture above about blessings a beautiful one?  And it's so true ... God continues to pour out one blessing after another on us every single day.  I was thinking that Faith Based Friday is a great day to take a little time and think about our blessings and to stop and take some time to thank God for them. 
 
When I think about the PEOPLE God has placed in my life to be a blessing, there are MANY.  I wanted to make a card for a certain person (can't say who yet because I'm barely mailing the card today).  The card is a simple one, but it get's the message across beautifully, I think:
 


Take some time to consider YOUR blessings today and to give God thanks!

Until next time, my friends, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very blessed day!

Kim

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Thursday, October 16, 2014

Fun with sketches ...

Hello again friends!

As you know, I'm a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and I absolutely LOVE what I do and I love sharing inspiration and ideas with you.  I'm also a mom and a full-time "real job" employee ... which means my fun stamping time is much more limited than I would prefer.  So, sometimes I have to squeeze in stamping time whenever I can find a spare minute or two.  On Tuesday morning, I had about 30 minutes of "free time" in the morning before I had to transport my son and head off to my "real job" so I wanted to take advantage of that time and try to create something.  For me, ideas don't just flow easily ... I usually have to mess around with a design for a good while before I'm happy with it.  So, when I'm in a time pinch like I was on Tuesday, I like to pull up a card sketch.   Card sketches can be a great way to get the creative process flowing more quickly as most of the "design" work is done for you.  All you have to do is apply colors and a stamp set and voila! you've got a card.

You can find card sketches easily by searching Google or Pinterest.  I had pinned this sketch from My Time Made Easy on my Pinterest account quite some time back and decided to give it a go:

 
And here's what I did with that design:
 
 
As you can see, I followed the sketch pretty closely ... I didn't have a lot of time to be creative but I wanted to get a card done.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  Normally I'm not comfortable with the amount of white space that I have around that flower, but with so many other colors and patterns going on with this card, I think the white space is welcome.
 
So that's it friends.  Go out and find a fun card sketch (or use the one I shared here) and spend some time with your stamps!
 
Until next time, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very BLESSED day.
 
Kim


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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

What's Up Wednesday

Hello friends ... it's Wednesday and so it's time, once again, to ask ...


My first item for this week isn't NEW, but a reminder.  This Photopolymer set came out a little while back and is adorable!  I've seen lots of beautiful cards made with it.  If you want this stamp set, just CLICK HERE and you'll be taken directly to that set in my online store:

 
Next up are this weeks Weekly Deals. 
 
 
I'm loving all the big shot items we've had in our weekly deals!  There are some great deals in this week's offering.  Again, you can CLICK HERE to take advantage of the Weekly Deals.
 


And finally, as if you needed another reason to join my team and become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, right now we have a great deal where you get to pick a FREE pack of Designer Series Paper for six months when you join!  That's $65.70 in free paper!  CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY TEAM and I'll send you a special gift when you become a part of my team.

 
 
As always, friends, thanks for taking a few minutes out of your day to stop by my blog.  Until next time, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very blessed day!
 
Kim
 


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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

And the award goes to ...

Hello friends!

Today I have a fun card to share with you.  I really started off this card just by playing with the Striped Scallop die.  (The wavy looking black background.)  I bought that die a couple months ago and just BARELY got a chance to play with it.  Shame!


After I got the background down, I decided to play with my blendabilites and my blended bloom stamp and the flower came in to play.  I started laying stuff out on the card and decided to tuck some ribbon behind the flower and as soon as I did, it struck me that it kind of had the look of an award ribbon so I decided to roll with it and use my so social stamp set to stamp the "number one mother" stamp.  SO CUTE!  This card went in the mail to my momma yesterday and I'm hoping she gets it before she sees this on my blog.  (I don't think she checks my blog EVERY DAY)

You can see that I decided to stamp the blended bloom on the envelope (in the picture above) and I also decided to stamp it on the inside of the card.  I rarely stamp the inside of my cards, but I like the effect.  Here's what the inside of the card looks like:


That's it for today, friends.  All the supplies for this card are listed below.  If you see anything you want, just click on it and you will be taken directly to my on-line store to that specific item.

Until next time ... here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very Blessed day!

Kim
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Monday, October 13, 2014

Wedding Plans

Hello friends ...

So the title might be misleading ... I'm ALREADY married ... and none of my kids are getting married yet .... so I'm not really planning a wedding ... but I'm planning to ATTEND a wedding.  When I got married, my good friend, Quinn, framed my wedding invitation for me as a wedding gift.  It was something I never would have thought to do and yet it is one of my most treasured gifts from my wedding day.  It hangs on the wall in our bedroom.  So anyway, even though we already have a gift planned for the couple, I wanted to ALSO give them their framed wedding invitation.  Here's what I came up with:

 
How cute is that sweet little angel who is protecting all the details?  LOL  I wanted to share the project with you, but didn't necessarily want to publicize all the couple's wedding details, so I found that little cutie to plop on the front.  She makes me chuckle.  Anyway ... when the invite came in the mail, there was a burlap bow tied around it, so I thought burlap was probably appropriate for framing the invite.  Nothing fancy, but I hope they will enjoy it.
 
I also had some time to make their card this weekend.  It's definitely not my original design ... you see this card all over pinterest ... but it's a beautiful design, so I wanted to use it:
 
 
That's it for today, friends.  I hope your week is off to a wonderful start.
 
Until next time, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very blessed day!
 
Kim
 


 
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Friday, October 10, 2014

Faith Based Friday

Hello friends ... and HAPPY FRIDAY!

Today is Faith Based Friday on my blog.  I love the stamp set I used on this card because it actually quotes scripture.  (I really, really wish Stampin' Up! carried more faith-based stamps ... I just love them!)

 
This is a fairly basic card ... although, I did use a kind of fun technique.  The cross is embossed with Tempting Turquoise embossing powder on Whisper White Card Stock.  Then I stamped the sentiment with Staz-On ink on vellum and laid it over the top.  I didn't need any adhesive (which you have to worry about hiding with vellum) because I used my tag topper punch and just tied to two pieces together with ribbon.  I love the way it looks in person with the cross kind of "glowing" through the vellum.  I added a couple rhinestones on the vellum that I colored with my Blendabilites Marker and a few more on the card base itself and voila ... a simple but beautiful card to share with a friend.
 
My supplies are listed below.  If you would like to purchase any of the items, all you need to do is click on the image of the product and it will take you to my on-line store.
 
Until next time, my friends, here's wishing you many creative adventures and a very blessed day!
 
Kim 
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