Shadow Box and Holiday Thankfulness!!!

I had a chance to play with Vicki Chrisman's new Shadowbox dies and the possibilities are limitless!!!! I thought it would be fun to dress up our Easter Table with some fun little decorations and I am totally loving the results!!! Easter has such a special meaning in our home! We have had many traditions since our children were very small. We know in our hearts we would not be the people we are today without the fact the Christ loved us so much that he chose to die for our sins and rise again at Easter!! Thank you Lord for your indescribable gift!!! I love the fact that Easter celebrates newness, a life forgiven of sin and in this little shadowbox all the little goodies represent that very concept. I may have vintage photos, but the innocence of childhood, the new chick, the flowers and butterflies all shout out that life can be renewed!!!

Thanks for letting me ramble on, but my heart is bursting at the seams with thankfulness!!!

Vintage Easter Shadowbox

Supplies used:

The Girl's Paperie patterned paper

Bazzill Cardstock

Prima Lace and Cameo Roses

Melissa Frances Crepe Paper

Kaiser Craft Jewels

Crafty Secrets Little Dolls Images andJournal Notes

I also used the Flower Box Die for a Place card at our table. I used Clear acetate and filled it full of m&m's for a fun little touch!!! Our table is going to shine this easter!!!

Accucut Clear Acetate

The Girl's Paperie patterned paper

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

I wish you a day full of joy and happiness!!!

Kristii

Joy and Music!!!

Happy Tuesday!! It's a beautiful snowy Spring morning today!! I don't mind spring snows because you know its going to melt soon and I find lots of joy in melting snow!!! I am still waiting to see my first crocus of the spring. I've heard they're popping up around town, so I will be looking!!!

Benny's senior prom was on Saturday and it was a lovely spring day!!! Here are some pictures of Benny and his date!! Don't they look fabulous!!!

They went with two other couples and had a fantastic time!!! They started off with dinner at Johnny Carinos and then went to the dance.
Great times and Great memories!!!

I just had to use the prom pictures for my Scrapping the Music Layout this week!!! The song is Fireflies by Owl City and I had to use the lyric stop and stare...although the lyric was stand and stare....I lost my mind for a brief moment...
I used 7 Gypsies papers and Prima Flowers that I sprayed with Tattered Angels spray. I didn't want a large title or journaling to take away from the pictures or the simple beauty of the paper, so I stamped it in. Not totally happy with the results, but I acheived the effect that I was looking for!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!!!

I wish you much joy and music!!!

Kristii

Thinking Inking Class

This Friday's Thinking Inking Class will feature the Rusted Enamel Technique using Tim Holtz' distress inks and Clear Embossing Powder. Stop by Simply Fresh Arts any time from 6-10 pm April 2nd, to try out this technique.

I will have vintage photos available for you to use, or feel free to bring one of your own. The photo in this tag is 3 3/4 inches long for reference. The cost for the Thinking Inking Class is $3. It's also Cropper's Club night and you can bring all your goodies and crop the night away!!! Cropper's Club is free for those who decide to stay. Seating and supplies are limited so call and reserve your space today!!! (406) 586-9249!!

For those of you who can't attend the class...I will post a tutorial on Saturday!!!

Hope you have a wonderful evening!!

Kristii

Farm Fresh and Happiness!!!

Gotta share another Farm Fresh card on this lovely Monday Morning. It is 45 degrees outside and that is a rare occurrence here in Montana. I know it is the calm before the storm, but 45 degrees certainly makes me happy!!! We are actually under a winter storm warning....that's springtime in Montana!!!

Farm Fresh Card #2

Supplies used:

Bazzill Red and Yellow Cardstock

October Afternoon Farm Fresh Papers

October Afternoon Farm Fresh Stamps

October Afternoon Farm Fresh Journaling Cards

Prima Lace and Flower

Red Ribbon

Cut red cardstock to 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 and fold in half to make a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card base.

Cut a piece of the chicken coop pattened paper to 4 x 3 and mat with a piece of root cellar paper cut to 4 1/8 x 3.- Just so you have a nice gingham border around the story book paper. Glue to the card base. Find the journaling card that suits your taste and glue to the bottom third of the card. Layer with lace and ribbon and add flowers cut from the Farmhouse patterned paper, a pretty flower, and fussy cut stamped images. A very cute yet easy card to impress your friends for sure!!

Here is a little tutorial on stamping the cow and other animals in these cards:

Fussy Cutting Stamping Technique

Supplies:
Farm Fresh Stamps

Ink: I used Ranger Distress Ink in Black Soot

Scissors and various patterned papers

Stamp your images on various patterned papers. The first time I stamped the cute little pig on the patterned papers, I wasn't happy with his nose placement, so I tried again and loved the results. I fussy cut all the parts that I wanted to add to the original stamped image and then glued them down. I wasn't going to cut out the pig's tail, so I stamped him again on the card base. I cut out the original image and glued it on top of the stamped image on the card base and my cute little pig had a perfect tail!!

As you can see from the finished fussy cut image, my cutting isn't perfect, but you don't notice it in the finished product. You just see the different patterns that make the pig adorable!!!

Happy Monday!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Kristii

It's Wednesday???

Where has the time gone?? It has been a very busy and hectic week so far, but spring is in the air and my outlook has totally been renewed!!! Don't you just love spring? Here in Montana it is a bit confusing though. The sun shines one minute, and then it snows buckets the next minute and then the sun shines once again. The temperature this morning is a balmy 24, but we should be climbing up to near 60 today which is like a heatwave!!! A little warm weather will do this body good!!!

I have been working with some October Afternoon Farm Fresh papers over the last couple of days!!! What a cute line and the stamps are extremely adorable!!! This is the first in a series of four cards that I will be teaching at Simply Fresh Arts!!!

Supplies used:

Bazzill Cardstock in Red, Cream and Yellow

October Afternoon Farm Fresh Papers and stamps

Red Ribbon

AC Marker

Scrapping the Music!!!

This week's song, Just the Two of Us by Will Smith, is such a sweet song I just had to find some pictures of Bethany and me when she was first born. My heart did melt and I did know that I loved her more than life itself!!! I just love being a mom!!!!

I chose Prima papers and lace for this layout because I wanted it to be as sweet as the moment was!!! It is a little over-done, but my heart is so full it had to be!!!! I am very blessed indeed!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Kristii

Happy Friday!!!

Good morning everyone!! This has been quite a week with Simply Fresh Arts opening its doors!!!

I have loved seeing many of you stop in the store and seeing your excitement has truly blessed my heart!!! What a blessing you all are!!! For those of you who aren't in the Bozeman area, we plan to have an e-store up and running in the near future!!!! We have so many wonderful ideas for Simply Fresh Arts and it is so exciting to be sharing them with all of you!!!

Today is Cropper's Club and I just can't wait to share the project we will be working on today!!!

This fun little tag was made using Tim Holtz new Distress Inks with a watercolor technique. I will be posting the instructions this weekend, but if you get a chance, stop by the store and make one with me. Cropper's Club will be at Simply Fresh Arts until 10:00 tonight and I hope to see you there!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day,

Kristii

Little Red Scrapbook March Reveal!!

Hello again everyone!!!

The DT gallery is up and ready for your viewing pleasure!! The DT did an amazing job this month and you will certainly have to stop by Little Red Scrapbook and check out all the scrappy goodness!!!

Here are my designs for this month!!

This is my favorite layout of the month. As you may know, Benny was in the Mr. Panther pageant a couple of weeks ago and it was a scream!!! Benny ended up winning the Swim suit competition and he was mighty proud of that feat!!! I found this random quote on the internet and thought it was perfect since the theme of the Pageant was superheroes.

The journaling states:

This year's theme was superheroes. Benny was very clever and rigged up a Censored Bar for the swimsuit competition and he won!! Heidi was on hand to congratulate him!!

Way to Go Benny!!!

This layout was so fun to make!!! I got the idea to string the cute little clothes on a clothesline and went looking for a picture of the girls playing with their dolls. I found this one of Benny and Heidi instead. Needless to say, Benny has tried to forget those days, but what do you do when you have two older sisters??

The journaling states:

Don't worry Benny!!!

We'll never tell...

but we may use the information against you at a later date!!!

Funny story...I should have used these clothes to dress the cute little dolls included in the kit. It didn't even dawn on me to put these cute little dresses on the dolls!!! And here I thought I was so clever using the dresses on a layout about Benny.....acutally the joke is on me..... ha ha!!! Katrina was the one who pointed it out to me, otherwise I would still be clueless!!! Thanks Katrina!!!

I found this picture of the girls clowning around while we were baking cookies at Christmas time. Such a fun tradition!!!

In the following layout, the journaling states:

The pursuit of happiness

Its all about the bling and it makes me smile!!!

I just love bling!!!!

Here are a couple of cards to round out my designs!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Kristii

Little Red Scrapbook March Sneaks!!!

Hi everyone!! I just finished up with my sneaks for Little Red Scrapbook and the reveal should be very soon now!!! I just loved all the color in the Cherry Delicious papers and the little dolls and flowers in the Cosmo Cricket chipboard made the kit so fun to work with!!!! I hope you were able to get your kit because I heard they were all sold out!!! Congratulations Sara and Rachel!!! Here are my sneaks:


Thanks for stopping by!!!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Kristii

Wishing you Joy today!!!

Good Morning everyone!!!

I am feeling a bit under the weather today, so I thought I would share an encouraging quote that definitely brightens my day!!!

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,

but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy!

- Thich Nhat Hanh

I have so many reasons to smile today!!! Here's my top five list for today:

1. My Faith!!! Thank you Lord for being in control and that I can rest in you!

2. My family!!!!! I am so very blessed indeed!!

3. Spring Break is around the corner!! YaY!!!!

4. My work!! I love my job at the school and I am so very excited about the new store!!! Whoo hoo!!!

5. The sun is shining and it is going to be a wonderful day!!!

Here is one last very easy card made with the Chic Bebe Girl line...I just loved this line!

Supplies:

Teresa Collins Chic Bebe Girl Patterned Papers

Prima Cameo Rose

Kaiser Craft Jewels

Papertrey Sentiment Stamp

Ribbon

Pink and White Cardstock

Border Punch

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

I hope you have a fabulous day!!!

Kristii

Good Tuesday Evening

Good Evening my friends!! I hope you had a wonderful day! I had a good day, but my heart is very heavy. My son, who joined the National Guard last year, had a friend from Basic Training who was fatally injured in a car accident over the weekend. As the mother of a soldier, I have to admit I worry about these boys and the possibility of them being deployed overseas. The thought of them being being fatally injured close to home really isn't even a part of my thought process!! It totally reminds me that our children are the Lord's and we have to trust Him all the time for all things!!! We have to keep our priorities in perspective because you never know when you or your loved ones will be called Home!

My heart goes out to the parents and family of Jacob Colclough! May the Lord surround you and bring you comfort during this difficult time! My thoughts and prayers are with you!!!

God Bless you and God Bless Jacob's willingness to serve his Country!!!

_________________________________________________

On a happier note, Simply Fresh Arts is coming right along!!! We are all organized and ready to fill our shelves with awesome products and goodies!!!! I am hoping to see many of you from the Bozeman area this Saturday!!!! Whooo hooo!!! It's all so exciting!!!

Here's a sampling of some Baby Shower cards that you will see on display in the store!!!!

Supplies:

Teresa Collins Patterned papers and ribbon

Prima Cameo Roses

These little Prima Cameo Roses are sooooo adorable and we will have them in several colors!!!

The little Teddy Bear was stamped with Papertrey Ink's Baby Bits stamps.

Thank you to Heather Nichols for the inspiration for these cards!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!! I appreciate all of you!!!

Kristii

Thank Goodness Its Friday!!!

Wow!!! What a week!!! It's been a whirlwind for sure!!!! From Mr. Panther to painting and creating, I'm worn out!!! Not too worn out however to share another card made with Teresa Collins Chic Bebe Line. This card, however, isn't baby themed! You can see just how versatile these papers are!!!

Supplies:

Teresa Collins Chic Bebe Girl Patterned Papers:

Growing Paper

Mini Tags Paper

Long Tags Paper

Fleur de Lis Paper

Notes Paper

Bazzill Cardstock:

Precious Pink

Tim Holtz Distress Ink:

Black Soot

Martha Stewart Glitter

Papertrey Stamps:

Baby Button Bits

White Embroidery Floss

Such a fun card to make!!!! I just love the glittered cupcake toppers and I think the birthday banner made the card extra fun!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

I wish you all a very Happy Friday!!!

Kristii

More Teresa Collins Goodness!!!

I have another Teresa Collins Project to share with you tonight. The Chic Bebe Girl papers are so versatile!!! This little wall hanging is so easy to make and would be perfect for a gift ensemble including a card and a scrapbook page or whatever you are inspired to make!

Supplies:

Teresa Collins Long Tags Paper

Black Cardstock

American Crafts Thickers

Kaiser Craft Bling

Ribbons and Lace

Chipboard

I have another Teresa Collins Project to share with you tonight. The Chic Bebe Girl papers are so versatile!!! This little wall hanging is so easy to make and would be perfect for a gift ensemble including a card and a scrapbook page or whatever you are inspired to make!

Supplies:

Teresa Collins Long Tags Paper

Black Cardstock

American Crafts Thickers

Kaiser Craft Bling

Ribbons and Lace

Chipboard

Carefully cut out the inside of the flourish from the tag with an exacto knife. Select a photo that will fit behind the flourish and glue to the back side of the tag. Mount the tag onto chipboard. Cover the back side of the chipboard with a piece of black cardstock that is large enough to add a border around the front side of the tag. Punch two holes in the upper corners with a Cropodile or heavy duty hole punch. Add ribbon to hang. Embellish with lace, Thickers, ribbon and florals.

Floral Tutorial

Supplies:

Patterned Paper

1 1/2 inch hole punch

Liquid Glue

Tim Holtz Rock Candy Distress Stickles

Bling

Punch two circles from patterned paper.

Fold your circles in half.

Then, in half again.

Use the folds to make random pleats in the circles as shown.

Continue making pleats around the entire circle

You will want to pleat one circle more than the other so it is slightly smaller in circumference.

Add a spot of glue to the larger flower.

Place the smaller circle on top and wait a few minutes for the glue to dry.

Coat both layers of the flower with Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

Once the flower is coated, it becomes easy to work with. Use your fingers to mold the layers so they have a nice uneven wavy look.

Wait for the stickles to dry.

and add a bling flower center.

If you have any questions about the flowers, please send me an email at klockart@msn.com and I will be happy to answer them!!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful evening!!!