Mark Your Calendars!

Some of you may have already received my recent email...some of you maybe not. I am working on the 2nd ScrapPink event to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. We had an awesome turnout last September when we held our first weekend crop for ScrapPink and we are hoping to do the same this year!! So, check your emails and mark those calendars for September 18-20, 2009!! If you aren't on my email list (or you didn't receive the email), leave a comment and I'll send one to you!

I've been busy working - both the regular day job and working hard on digital classes for My Creative Classroom! Many people have asked if I would teach them digital, so I decided that would be my focus for the Fall Semester at MCC. If you haven't been over there, you can visit the website at: www.mycreativeclassroom.com and check it out. There is also a place where you can sign up for a newsletter. This will keep you up to date on all the amazing classes that are offered. Summer is sort of quiet there, but we'll have TONs of great stuff for the Fall!

I've been fine-tuning my photography skills lately. I took a class at Better Photo.com and it was great. I learned quite a bit about my camera and how to use all the fun buttons on it. I've really been obssessed with my flowers and fun things like that. I plan to spend some time today going through the photos and picking out some of my favorites to enter in the 4H fair at the end of the month. How cool is this photo?? I thought the Butterflyweed was cool...the bonus of the bee was even cooler. I can believe how clear his face came out in the photo!

This gorgeous yellow lily is in my backyard...I have been snapping pictures like a crazy person. Each time a new bloom pops open, I have the camera in hand, snapping away. My plan is to do a digital scrapbook with all of the flowers around my yard. I have a pretty large list so far. This book will be huge!

I went to the Western Loudoun Artists Studio Tour weekend and visited some amazing studios in my area!! It was a couple of weeks ago and it was a tour around the western portion of Loudoun County. These talented people opened their studios for two days to show the public what they have. I was so inspired. I learned how to make silver jewelry (the actual silver pieces!!) and I signed up for pottery classes!! I just received my jewelry supplies and can't wait to start making my own silver. My pottery class was awesome. I enjoyed the first one and can't wait to go back and do more fun stuff this weekend!! I'll be sure to post pictures when I get finished pieces of both pottery and jewelry!

I hope you all had a great 4th weekend! We had a wonderful time at the lake with our family. I wish we didn't have to come back to reality. I keep pointing out this run down little house that I think would make a great coffee shop. Can you believe Smith Mountain Lake doesn't have a coffee shop!? Mike hasn't taken me seriously yet...one day maybe he'll surprise me. I think it would be great to have a little coffee shop with a side room of kreative stuff.

Until next time, I'll leave with a few fun snapshots from the 4th weekend...of course they are of the kids...my favorite subjects for photos! The three blondies are mine, the little brown haired cutie and the baby are my brother in law's little people.

It's almost summer vacation!!

Wow! I can't believe that summer vacation is just around the corner! The last day of school is quickly approaching...only 3 days! I am working on the teacher gifts...of course they are last minute things as they always are. I did decide to go digital with them though. I was fortunate enough to have two different events in the last two weeks where I could get great pictures of each child in both girls' classes. I found some cute little CD albums on Shabby Miss Jenn's site. I took the photos and just plugged them into these quick little albums. Unfortunately, I did overlook the size thing when I printed them. Imagine my surprise when I went to pick them up at Costco and they were 8x8 and not CD size like I expected. I did choose 8x8, but the ditz in me didn't think the actual image on the page would print that large! Live and learn. So, I scrambled to figure out what to do since the idea of using these old CDs and DVDs around here was scrapped! My talented friend Lorie gave me the idea of doing accordion albums. I was thrilled. I'm in the middle of assembling them now and will have to post pictures of the finished product later. But as a quick sneak peek...



The cute little one of Mikaela and her friend was from the "Back 2 School" CD album kit and for Kasey's class, I used the "Weeds N Daisies" CD album kit.

Many of you know that I had been working at the job that was horrible. I worked from home, but the stress and the horrible manager was a little too much for me. I finally got the nerve and quit! I feel so much better now. I can't believe how much this was dragging me down and making me simply miserable. I have missed out on so much because of the hours and the ridiculous stuff I put up with. I was constantly worried about what I would get 'yelled at' for next. I didn't enjoy anything because in the back of my mind, I knew that no matter how hard I tried, she would find something and I would be in trouble. It's unbelievable what it did to my self-esteem. I think that's finally coming back. I just feel like a totally different person right now.

Anyway, now that I am finally feeling up to it and I have the time, I have been working my way back into kreating! I did a big afternoon thing with my mom's Red Hat Society ladies. I set up stations and the ladies had a great time making cards! Most had never stamped before, so that was a challenge. But, we all had a great time.

Since I'm focusing on Kreating With Kim again, I wanted to find a fun stamp to help promote myself (who knows what I'm doing with the business, but shoot, I have to promote, right???). I found this site and they do custom stamps...how stinkin' cute is this (excuse the dark background - I didn't turn on enough lights, but you get the idea!):



If you like this, you can get one for yourself at The Stationary Studio. They have a TON of stuff and it's all very cute!!

OH and lastly, I am beginning the planning of ScrapPink 2! I have contacted the hotel and once I get the confirmation for my dates, I'll send an email to everyone! We had such a great time last year, I know this year will be just as fun!! Laura and I enjoy spending the weekend with everyone. You guys are such a great group! For those who haven't attended yet, you really have to. It's a blast!!!

Off to finish assembling these albums...I'll be sure to post the final product when I'm done.

Have a great week!!

Oh My Goodness!

I can't believe that my last post was in January! Goodness! Time is flying by me. I have taken on more work and it's consumed a lot of my time - a lot more than I had thought it would. Even though I haven't posted, I have been kreating stuff. I'll post some pictures of things I have done.

Laura and I had our 2nd weekend crop in February and had a blast - as always! The ladies are always such fun to have. I have met some truly great people doing these crops. I'm already beginning the work for our 2nd annual ScrapPink crop at the end of September. Look for more information to come soon.

I'm also in the process of kreating a fan page on Facebook. If you are a "Facebooker" you can visit me there as well. I am slowly working on this, so keep checking for updates.

Kasey and I ran our annual Daisy Dash for Girls on the Run on May 16th. I haven't done layouts for those pictures yet - even though my husband only got 2 of us! I have included the layouts I did from last year's race below. It's such a great event and a wonderful program for girls. If you have a daughter that is 8 or older, you should check it out www.girlsontherun.org. Kasey has enjoyed it the last two years she has participated. We were happy that we beat last year's time - only by about 4 minutes, but I guess it's better than taking longer! Next year I told her we would do even better than this year. I suppose I need to keep going on this treadmill so I don't get too out of shape!



I am also thrilled that I finally got my new Photoshop program - CS3 Extended! I am learning how to use it because it is a tad different than PSE 5.0, but oh when I get it down, it's going to be soooo cool! This version does all kinds of great stuff. I'm really hoping that eventually - sooner rather than later - I can start doing some of my own designs for digital kits. We'll see. It's a big dream, but if I keep my focus, I'll get there.

OH yeah and I'm also working on a digital class for My Creative Classroom! MCC is sort of 'closed' for summer, but will be opening up in the Fall for a bunch of great classes! New instructors and new ideas...I'll keep you all posted when things start hopping over there.

Enjoy your gorgeous weekend everyone! I have loved this perfect weather today. I planted a bunch of new flowers in my pots on the deck. I'm so loving the color and cheer that's out there now. I cleaned off the deck furniture, put up the canopy and now the pretty flowers. Perfect for lounging on these cool spring evenings or coffee in the mornings...I love it!

Until next time - Keep on Kreating!!

A Snow Day - Finally!

Seems like we've been waiting for ages to have some snow and today we got it! The last few weeks have been unbelievably cold. I think it was 0 (yes zero!) degrees here on Saturday morning. Cold, but no snow in sight. The girls had a great time outside playing in it today. Who knows when we'll see more, so they had to take advantage of what we had. There wasn't quite enough in the grass, so they resorted to making snow angels on the deck. Silly girls! They even tried to get the dog to lie down so they could make snow dog angels! That poor dog is so patient with these girls. She puts up with soooo much.

Anyway, now that the holiday craziness is behind me and we are settled into the new year, I'm back at my 'kreating'. Laura and I have been busy planning another weekend retreat for February. We are so excited and can't wait. We had so much fun the last time.
We still have a few seats left. If you are interested in attending, go to this link and register: http://kreatingwithkim.eventbrite.com. We would love to have you!

I just redid her blog - as she says, new year, new blog! She rolled it out today and we are both excited about how pretty it is. I still have to add some things to her upcoming events, but we're pretty much done. Check it out: www.memorylaneinc.blogspot.com.

I have a class coming up at her store on January 31st. We'll be learning dry embossing techniques. If you are available that day, come on over! I don't have samples yet, but will post when I have them.

I've also been working on some fun digital layouts. Here is one I did yesterday for a challenge on a digital site. I was supposed to use only the elements from the kit so I was a little limited with my 'kreativeness'. The two blondies are my daughters and the little cutie in the middle is my neice Jessica. We went to Disney in December with the family and had a blast!



I also downloaded several great kits during the "Christmas Around the World" Collaberation. There were great designers with awesome kits that participated. I enjoy all the freebies and the designers don't skimp with their work. Here are just a couple I did. One I used a QP - quick page, the other is simply two papers.



This is the one using the vintage papers. I just love the vintage look!



This one is just a QP. I love those for fast pages. Just slide your picture in the designated spot and you're all set!

By the way, if you are following my blog by just checking in here and there, I have added a subscribe button to the sidebar. You can just hit that button and you will receive an email when I update the blog.

Look for more fun layouts to come. I have finished up the girl scout calendar and had a blast with that one. I think the layouts turned out great. I just hope everyone likes them. Now I'm setting aside time each day to do more layouts for myself. I also found a place to get them all printed for pretty cheap. They have lots of great reviews from other customers. I want to use two or three different places to see which I like the best.

Ok, I'm off to kreate!!