Christmas is just around the corner.

Christmas is quickly approaching and I've only gotten half of my 40 Christmas cards finished, so I took advantage of my DH being out of the house to get my creative juices flowing in my craft room.  This is one of the Sugar Nellie stamps that I just love - it's called All Wrapped Up.  I've entered it in a challenge for Making Greetings card for November. 

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post.  I've finished about half of my Christmas Cards (only 42 days left until Christmas - yikes!).  But this is one that I had to finish.  My husband and I married 8 years ago tomorrow and this card I made for him.  He supports my crazy crafting hobby, so the least I can do is make him a nice card.  I hope you like it.  The stamp is my first from BugaBoo Stamps.  We don't look anything like this couple on the card (at least not yet), but I thought it was cute.  I hope you enjoy it.

Happy weekend everyone!  My husband and I just returned from an 11 day trip to Utah.  The one item I have on my bucket list is to visit all of the 58 National Parks in the United States.  During this trip, we visited Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National Park.  Six more off my list!  Still many more to go.  Now that I'm caught up with work (and laundry), I wanted to get back to my craft room and my focus was Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Below is a photo of my latest card. 

To see photos of my trip, visit http://kkoontz.com/f961559834

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.  It's rainy and dreary here in Chicago, so I hope to put together another card or two before the day is over.

 

Rubber Necker!

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Scrapbook Expo in St. Charles, IL and fell in love with the RubberNecker stamps.  I bought 8 stamps and just love them.  Below is my latest stamp that I'll be sending to an aunt later this month for her birthday.  I'm sure she's going to love it!  I hope you do too.  Have a great night!

126 Days until Christmas ...

Although Christmas seems a long time away (especially when the temperature is in the 80s), however my Christmas Card list grows each year, and I wanted to get some new stamps inked up.  The first is one of my latest Sugar Nellie stamps and the second card is an older Magnolia stamp.  I hope you like them.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I've finally quit my habit of Diet Coke and have had an enormous amount of energy, so I've been busy cleaning closets, cabinets, painting trim and lots more. The only things I haven't done is 1) exercise (yuk) and 2) spend time in my craft room.  I hope that changes soon (at least #2)!  This Friday, I'll be going to the Scrapbook Expo. Since my friends don't scrapbook or make cards, I'll be going solo.  

Next month, my husband and I will be attending a wedding and I made a card.  It's a bit "simple" with few papers, but I think it turned out cute.  I used my cricut (paper dolls cartridge) to cut out the bride and groom and used punches to make the car...  I think it turned out cute - I'd love to know what you thought.  Thanks for stopping by.

My first Sugar Nellie stamp

I received my first Sugar Nellie stamps this week and couldn't wait to color 'em up! I used paper from my stash, flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, and copic markers.

I hope you like it.

For the past two years, I've been doing a bit of research on my father's side of the family. My grandfather came to the United States in 1913 from Austria along with his brother, 2 sisters and his parents.  He was about 4 years old at the time.  From that photo, I had an aunt that was still living - she was 99 years old when she passed last year.  I've gotten in touch with just about every living relative on my dad's father's side of the family.  Next will be my dad's mother's side - but genealogy is a good winter project.  Today I visited with my dad's two cousins and his aunt.  Although she is in her mid 80s, she still has a sharp mind, so I take advantage of that as I search my family tree.  Below is a card that I'm sending to my dad's cousin and his wife to thank them for joining us for lunch today.  Really it's just an excuse to color up my Tilda stamps!  Have a great day and take the time to search your family.  Ancestry.com is a great way to start.  Thanks for stopping by.

I've been trying to make cards more often for my site, but with work and keeping a house it's been difficult.  Here is my latest card.  It's my first digi card that actually didn't bleed when coloring with my copics.  I guess I'll have to break down and get a laser printer as my ink-jet doesn't seem to work.  If you have any hints when using digi stamps, please leave a comment.  There are so many cute digis out there and I've been hesitating getting one because of my printer issue.

I'm not sure what this card will be used for, but I thought it was super-cute.  Thanks for your comments and have a great day!

It's been a while since I've made time to blog.  My husband and I spent a week hiking Glacier National Park, Badlands, Mount Rushmore, & Black Hills in the Dakotas and Montana.  Growing up in the plain states of Illinois, we sure do love visiting the Rocky Mountains.  Below is one of our first views at Glacier NP.  You can see more of the pictures at http://kkoontz.com/f961559834.  My bucket list is to visit all of the 58 National Parks in the U.S.  I'm really looking forward to the Alaska and Hawaii trips!

Since the return of our trip, I decided to pick up the craft of quilling.  There are websites and blogs that have amazing projects.  Below is my first shot at it and I'd have to say I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

My sister-in-law's birthday was earlier this year, however I haven't seen her since so I got her a "coffee birthday" - a gift card at Starbucks.  She can't seem to start her morning without her cup of joe.  To make her birthday card fun, I made her card look like a take-out coffee.  This was real fun to make too.  The top slides out and you can put a note or attach a gift card.  I think she's going to love this one!

June 2012

What a busy month of June we have.  My nephew graduated from high school and his baseball team came in third in state for their conference.  So, I've been going to all the games I could.  We also have with graduation parties, Father's Day, birthdays ... and to top it off we have a wedding too.  I did find some time to put together a few cards.  The first is my Father's Day cards.  I learned how to make an origami man's shirt.  I was a bit excited about this because making masculine cards are a challenge for me.  I spend a lot of time coloring Tilda and never really got into Edwin stamps, so I'm always looking for ideas for cards for boys/men.  Here are photos of the cards I made for my dad (he likes Hawaiian shirts) and my father-in-law.  I hope you like them.  They were a lot of fun to make.  Now it's time for a birthday card.

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted.  I'm working hard to build an inventory for my friend's vendor day, where I've been asked to sell my cards.  I've made a few cards and lots of "gift card holders".  These are real fun to make.  I also have a baptism on Sunday, so I had made a card for that.  I also share a birthday with my aunt - another card! And I have two high school graduations in June - two more cards.  Looks like I'll be spending all available in my craft room (not really a bad thing!).  Here are a few photos of my latest creations ...  With a vacation to Glacier National Park coming up soon, I guess May & June will fly by too. 

Aunt's B-day card

Jack's baptism

Gift card holder (closed)

Gift card holder

Another rainy weekend, so I did a bit of Spring cleaning in my craft room.  Then I realized that we are just a few weeks from Mothers Day so I thought it would be a great time to try an easel card.  I figured that if I could figure out the "step by step" card, this should be no problem.

I'd love to hear what you think.  My mom saves all the cards I've given her, so I think she'll be happy to receive this one.

At the Milwaukee Scrapbook Expo I found these great stamps from Heartfelt Creations and made the card below.  I colored the hydrangeas with copics and used pearls on each of the flowers.

I'd love to hear what you think!

This weekend I went to the Milwaukee Scrapbook Expo.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of the sales, new stamps, new products.  I was there almost 4 hours.  Even though my sis-in-law bailed on me, I had a great time. 

Below is a card I made for the Making Greeting Cards challenge for April - subject: April Showers.  Now it's time to delve into my latest purchases. 

Enjoy your weekend all!

Heidi

Last week I received a stamp I've been wanting for a while - Lilly Rose.  With work I haven't had much of a chance to color it up, but I finally had some quiet time in my craft room.  I think this one turned out pretty cute.  I'll be making a second one for my inventory because it's just so cute!

I'd love to hear what you think about it. 

I just finished my step-by-step card yesterday and was looking for inspiration to make another card on this quiet Easter weekend.  Our newest neighbors just gave birth to their first child, a baby girl.  Perfect!  I hope you like it.

A quiet Saturday and the Cubs didn't perform well enough for me to want to watch, so it's into my craft room for the day.  I wanted to try something new so I watched a few videos on how to make easel cards.  It took me a few different times, but I finally got the format right.  Then I used two of my Magnolia stamps (masking one over the other): Tilda in Butterfly Dress and Stonewall.  I colored it with lots of Copic markers to get this card just right.  It's for my inventory, but will certainly go to someone special.

I hope you like it - thanks for stopping by.  It's because of my fellow crafters that inspire me to try something new.  I'd love to hear your comments.

Another Easter Card

Bring on the Easter bunny!  I've made another Easter card.  I ordered a few more stamps and copic markers yesterday. which I am anxiously awaiting - and I wanted to send out just one more card.  I hope you like this one.  I used my cricut for the border, Magnolia Stamp and miscellaneous paper from my stash.  Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (oh yeah, I placed an order with them too!).

Enjoy your evening!!  Happy crafty scrapping!

A dreary day in Illinois, so I figured it is the perfect time to finish the four Easter cards that need to be mailed this week.

Last year I started researching my father's family and found that he has several cousins and aunts that are in the area.  I took my dad to a family reunion and also to visit his 99 year old aunt in a nursing home.  Although it is sad that she didn't see her 100th birthday, I was very grateful to have a chance to visit with her.  Now I have a longer list of relatives to send cards to, but that's fine by me. 

Below are the two cards I made today, and I still have one to go.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  I hope you have nicer weather that we do here in Illinois.

I hope you'll take a moment to leave a comment below.

Easter is upon us ...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  With my dh in Utah for the next week I promised myself that I would spend more time in my craft room.  My dear niece, Ali, turned 15 so I made her a shadow box.  She loves her puppy Hershey, so included a photo of the two of them.  She's also a bit of a fashionista so I used my cricut to cut out some models from the Forever Young cartridge.

I also wanted to take a look at my latest Easter card.  I wasn't happy with some of the papers I chose, so I switched a few things around.  This is my third revision of this card.  I also did a bit of researching on decorative pins.  I wasn't sure if crafters made their pins - or bought them.  So I went to my neighborhood Hobby Lobby (who had all of their glass beads on sale 50% off), so I figured I'd take a shot at making a few.  It was very relaxing to make and I think they turned out pretty nice.  I added a pink and yellow one to my latest Easter card.  I have two more Easter cards to make, so I hope to have them done in time to mail to my two Aunts.

Shadowbox and card for my niece.

Third version of my Easter Card.  I'd love to read your comments.

Enjoy your week!

What a beautiful Sunday.  The first time in the 60 s in a long time.  After a few hours outside, I figure I should be a bit productive so I cleaned my craft room.  Like many other crafters, my craft room is always a bit messy, but I thought I'd take a photo of it so I remember it when is finally cleaned.  I mentioned on a few sites that we were in the process of remodeling our basement - which actually started because I wanted a place to do my crafting.  I still would like some shelving or photos, but here is what it looks like now - and I had to add a pic of my dog, Wrigley, who is always at my feet when I'm in my craft room.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Tilda and her bike

Tilda wishes happy birthday

inside

Happy Friday all!  Tonight my husband is hosting a poker party which leaves me in my craft room for hours with just my dog, Wrigley, and my favorite stamp, Tilda.  I absolutely love these evenings.  The IPAD is playing music and getting creative.  What more could I ask for?  I finished a birthday card for my inventory and put together a new card using one of my favorite color combinations - pink and brown.  I didn't add a sentiment as I wanted to leave it open for a Birthday or Just Because Card.  I hope you like them.  Not too much going on this weekend, so you might just see another one posted.  Have a great weekend all.  Chicagoland is warming up and I'm so ready for Spring.

Now that I'm a fellow blogger, I created a Spring card that I may enter into challenges.  I thought this one turned out pretty cute.  I hope you like it.

This card I made for my Mom for Easter.  I was quite happy with the way it turned out.

This is my first birthday card after discovering Spell Binders.  This is one of my favorite color combinations.