Meet Barbara. Who do you think she looks like?

If you've read some of my previous posts on these ladies, you may remember that my daughter and I named them after tv characters they remind us of . But we couldn't really find a character for this one.

Who do you think she looks like? Leave me a comment to let us know.

Also, look for Barabara and 14 other ladies in my Etsy shop, to dress up your Mother's Day Cards and gifts

www.grammiekimscorner.etsy.com

Have a wonderful and blessed day,
-Kim K.

Versatile Embellishment of Sweet Nostalgia

ANNE

Hello Happy Campers,
Meet Anne

Another design from my Paper Doll Hat Ladies embellishment collection.


VERSATILITY
 This is made into one of the versatility options, I mentioned in my title. I made this one into a tag that can be used for gifts or made into an ornament or and embelishment on a card or scrapbook page.

 THEIR OWN PERSONALITY
 Who doesn't love the ladies and moms of our favorite long ago TV sitcoms?

 When I first made these pretty Paper Doll Hat Lady embellishments, my daughter thought they had so much character, that I should name them. When I looked at each one, it dawned on me that they really looked like some of the TV Moms and ladies of the 50's and 60's.

AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN
 This one reminded me of "Anne Marie" portrayed by Marlo Thomas, from the tv show "That Girl".  Unless you are a TV Land or Nick at Night fan or born around 1960, you may not know who I'm referring to. But, you will recognize this type of woman much more today, than people did when the show first aired.  Anne was a very beautiful twenty something actress. And one of the very first tv characters who portrayed a lady "living single" in New York City. She was a pioneer of sorts, for the lifestyle of living alone and making her career a bigger priority than getting a husband. In fact it was years before Anne became engaged to her boyfriend. She has a beautiful face and shoulder length black hair and adorable clothes.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

I have some of them on the right side of my blog. Take a look and you can see and purchase all 14 of these ladies in my etsy shop www.grammiekimscorner.com.  I'll also post one of the 14 of these types of character each day.  See if you can guess the TV shows from which some of them were named. 

There will be more to come and some kids as well.

Until then it's back to painting redecorating. Stay tuned and I'll post the after pics of my grandchildren's rooms when I'm finished with them, which should be be the end of this week.

Have a blessed day, 

-Kim K.

The Perfect Tag for the Love in the Air



Soul Mates

Soul Mates

I have this pretty tag in my Etsy Store. I made it rather elaborate to fit the occasion of a wedding or gift for love birds ot each other. Seems just right for this time of year too.

I thought the love birds stamp was adorable and had to have it. If you look closely you'll notice all the words on the distressed dictionary pieces are definitions of love.

I found the charms ages ago in a cute little box of love charms. My favorite in that box was the little engagement ring, that I attached to this tag.

Have a look at this and much more in my shop over at

www.grammiekimscorner.etsy.com

Blessings for a wonderful day,

-Kim K.

Paper Doll Hat Ladies

A quick little post tonight. Gotta get some
 rest for my sweet little people
 coming to see their Grammie tomorrow.

But,I'm so excited to introduce this new line of handmade embellishments to my Etsy store.
They are the cutest little paper doll faces mounted and ready for embellishing cards, scrapbook pages, invitations or just a make em into little tags.  

Hop on over there and meet these cute little ladies. They are right out of the pages of the 1950's! I didn't know that is what they would look like until I made them.  But those pill box hats, sweet print designs and all the little jewels remind me of Donna Reed and June Clever. So I gave them some the names from my long forgotten favorite TV shows .

Here is just a couple of the 15 I currently have in my store. But there will be more coming, I promise.

Have a Great Friday!

-Kim K.

Why are we Addicted to Paper Punches

Punches I love punches!

I am blessed to have a Cricut Machine and completely love it, like we all do. But I just can't give up my punches. When I made this, I only had a 3 or 4 punches. I own about 50 now. And even though my cricut will cut more things faster and sometimes neater, I love the immediate results I get with punches. When I just want a little flower or circle, I just punch it out quickly without setting up a cartridge in the cricut.

Problem is....storage!! I keep my punches in a set of plastic drawers right now, but how I would love a better solution. One where I can see what I have for what I need with a glance.

I would love to read some ideas on storage solutions for us punch addicts. So, if you have one please add it in your comments.

In the meantime, while I'm working on some new things for my Etsy store, I thought I would post some of my older creations made some time ago.

This is a borders and corners set I made for ebay years ago. It did well and I'm thinking of reviving the idea using my cricut AND punches.
Blessings to all,
-Kim K.

A New Spin on Scrapbooking

When you receive lovely "Thank You" note.

What do you do with it after you've read it?

THANK YOU NOTE SCRAPBOOK PAGE

This question is always presents itself, whenever I receive one. Then one day I received this one from one of my dear church family members and I couldn't bring myself to put it away in my keepsake trunk. So I began thinking of how to display it.  The envelope itself was so beautiful and the colors inspiring, that I immediately though "what a pretty scrapbook page it would make."

My problem here, was that the note was written on the other side of fold up envelope. So, I just made a copy of the text onto white archival cardstock and then I could separate the text from the beautiful envelope.

After that, I simply let the colors and textures guide me to make this page.

And now this gives me a great idea for a new poll. Keep checking back with me and

see what I have in store for next weeks Poll.

Have a marvelous Hump Day,

Blessings to all,

-Kim K.

How Voting in Polls Can Help YOU !

We've seen these polls in lots of places before. And yes sometimes we like to put our 2 cents worth in. And sometimes we say to ourselves, "Nah. What's the point?..... Right?          On the other hand.....

I thought the same thing until I started taking part in a poll of my mentor and inspirational blogger, Becca Feeken at  www.amazingpapergrace.com The more weeks I took part, the more I began to learn new things about myself and other crafters. (Because the poll gives you stats too. So you see if your opinions or feelings are popular or rare.)

For one thing, me and about a million other people find her and her work incredible. But I couldn't put my finger on what was the most special about it to me, until she asked me. And I was curious what others thought too.

So, before I could answer her question, I had to ask myself the question too. Then I realized that I originally began loving her beautiful cards because they are mostly faith based. After that, I kept coming back to see what she'd made next, and to learn from her amazing techniques tutorials. 

I use to have trouble finding my style in my paper crafting. I understand that this is true for a lot of people. Sometimes this problem would put me in a slump or cause a creative block. 

However, after a few more polls like this, I am beginning to learn so much about myself and what I love. I am so intrigued by this, because I'm finding that the more I have to ask myself this stuff, the more it's giving me answers to my style question.

I know you can take an online motivational quiz to answer questions designed to help you find your style. But the beauty of these polls verses those quizzes is that they are more specific. And usually right on the blogs of the people you admire, with their work right in front of you to help you answer the questions. These wonderfully talented people also generously share tutorials to help you get there in your own way. And they do this with encouragement and enthusiasm.

So, if you put all these polls together with the people who's work you admire... You can get to that "ah-hah" moment that gives you your style! After that you just put your own spin on it, like colors you love, or textures you like the feel of, or use your things that you love on an unexpected item.

 Then you have a unique design that becomes your signature.

I hope this makes sense to you and that you can use it to find the clarity that maybe you've been searching for in your own style. It's certainly taking me in that direction. I've included a poll on my blog in the bar to the right. I hope you decide to take it and vote.

 In the meantime, hop on over to amazingpapergrace.com and take a look at her fabulous blog and take her poll. Bet, it will inspire you too. ;)


Good Luck, enjoy the polls and learn something about yourself in the process!

Blessings to you all,
-Kim K.

How to make Flower Pot Cards

Good Saturday Morning to everyone!

 I thought I would show you the inspiration for my blog header today. These are some flower pot cards I made a couple of years ago. I found a similar template for them just browsing around the web. I'm sorry, it was too long ago to remember where specifically. I was looking for something unique to make for a family birthday card.

These cards were so much fun to make. And they are so simple to do. But have dramatic results.

• I created the pot base first by then chose the size I wanted. After that I made a template for it. Then cut two pieces of heavy cardstock in brown to represent the pot. I like AC cardstock for it's strength and solid core.

• Once I chose the size of the "pot" I wanted, I made a slider 1/4" size smaller than the pot. Then typed out the card message on contrasting cardstock. But you can use type of message paper you desire.

• THAT'S IT! YOUR DONE WITH THE HARDEST PART. NOW YOU'RE FREE TO USE YOUR IMAGINATION TO PLAY!

• After that, just embellish as desired.

I used mainly felt or silk flowers and silk leaves on the pot as well as the slider.  Then wrapped a flourish diecut around the pot.

For the 'because of you" message I used punches for the message.

For a nice finished look, I softened the edges with chocolate chalk, some butterflies a ladybug and a metal dragonfly.  

 Very easy and so much fun and versatile to play around with. You can use this technique to create as many different "flower arrangements" and pots as there are in a florist!

Best of all....They never wilt!

I hope you have fun with this this technique.

Blessings to you,

-Kim K.

What are Your Crafting Priorities?

What are your crafting priorities? For fun, family or your business? I know I would stay here in my craft room all day everyday if I could. I think everytime we make something, we improve our techniques and things turn our just a little more polished.
That seems to be my motivator, when I'm doing anything. If I get burned out or feel like I just can't grasp a technique, I just pull out another piece of scrap paper and try again.  Everything I've read so far points to practice makes perfect.

But sometimes the real problem is getting my crafting priorities in order. Like now. I've been working diligently on making things for and promoting my Etsy store.  I'm really trying to find that balance of making things, like long neglected scrapbook pages for my family and still not neglect my store.
  But I'm spending so much time on the computer that, not much is getting made. So, now it's time to turn that around. Mind you, I'm still going to post here everyday. Gotta keep working on those habits I'm trying to keep. Although, I promise I'm working on keeping posts shorter.



How about you? Do you have radar for when you need to log off and pick up the scissors instead? Where is that balance with you? I would love to read all the ways people prioritize their work.
In the meantime, I'm also working on improving my blog by adding a little tip, printable coupon, a helpful link or giving bragging rights here to spotlight people and work I admire.



Well here's the promise for shortening things up. And the little something for you I promised.



Hobby Lobby Coupon Link


http://www.hobbylobby.com/weekly/coupon.cfm


Blessings to all,
-Kim K.