All about Me!!

   Hey all, I was nominated to do a little piece all about me by my mom at www.scrappyhorses.blogspot.com.  I will answer a list of questions after I give a little speal about me!

   My name is Katie and I have been married for about a year and a half.  I love my husband and my step-daughter!  They are my world and I can't wait to expand our little family in the near future!

(This is my little family on the 4th of July!)











   I am currently an assistant at our small town library in the children's department. I love working with children.  I graduated from Purdue in Early Childhood Intervention and have been working with children most of my life.  I get to do some fun little projects for the kids and when I taught preschool I did a lot of fun neat activities with the kiddos!

   We are currently in the process of buying a house which is why I haven't had a chance to post anything n a while.  My stuff is mostly packed and I have been going a little crazy not being able to use it!

ON TO THE QUESTIONS!!!

1. What are you currently working on?

   Right now I am in the process of working on my wedding scrapbook.  This is a LOOOONG process because I do everything so carefully because I want it to look as perfect as possible.

(This is a little pic of the ceremony.  I loved my dress, my colors, and EVERYTHING!!!)






2. How long does it take me to create a project?

   Wow, that's a tough question.  It really depends on what I am working on.  If it's a card, it can take anywhere from an hour to 3-4 hours.  On the other hand a scrapbook layout can take much longer.  I tend to walk away from a layout before I adhere it to the page so I can look with fresh eyes and make sure it looks the way I want.  So layouts can take a few days.

3. What are my favorite things to create with at the moment?

   I absolutely love my cricut!  I use it all the time when I am crafting.  Close to my Heart products are a must have.  The stamp sets are too cute for words this season!  Plus I love the new ink colors they added.  I am a very bright color person and the new colors fit into my color schemes VERY well!

4.  How does my writing/creative process work?

   Geeze, they are asking all the tough questions.  Trying to get to the secret of my awesome!  Well my creative process is pretty simple.  If I am working on a card, I don't tend to just make cards for contests, I actually have to have a person in mind and make it for that person.  I want my cards to be personal and geared to the person receiving it.  A layout is very different.  I choose the pictures I want and base the layout on the pictures.  After the pictures, I choose what colors I want to back them in and where they will go on the layout.  Now comes the fun part.  I get to choose embellishments and how I want the rest of the page to look.  Adding stamps here and there and little gems and such is what makes the page stand out!
   Writing my blogs is a little harder.  I don't have a specific design, I just sit down and get to work.  My work is a little erratic.  I work on different sections and pieces all at one time.  So writing about my process and how it all came together is difficult for me.  I try to put in as much detail about the products I use and how I used them so others can try the same things.

5.  How do I become inspired and stay inspired?

   This isn't too tough a question.  I stated before that I enter contests on occasion.  Contests are a great way to get inspired!  If you have a layout or a card to make for something you can head over to one of the many blogs used for crafting and find a plethora of fun things to work with and design ideas.  Use things at your disposal for inspiration.  Like I use my pictures for the base of my layouts.  Work off of colors or a specific cut or stamp you really want to use.
   Staying inspired is a little more tough.  When I work on a layout I said that I walk away for a while to look with fresh eyes.  Sometimes to stay inspired, you have to give it a break.  You can't rush creative awesomeness and if you need a break, take it.  Go watch tv, eat a snack, or take a walk.  Sometimes inspiration will strike and you will know exactly how to finish up that pesky empty corner!

6.  What is my signature style?

   Well...huh.  That's hard to say.  I love to use embellishments and I tend to use a lot when working on stuff.  When I share my creations people love to comment on the items I have chosen to display on my layouts and such.  I don't really have a signature style per say, but I do have a style all my own that changes with every creation I make.  I suppose that's a signature all on it's own.  

   So that's me in a nutshell, creatively that is.  There's a little more under the surface, but you can sense that from my craftiness.  I hope you learned a little and that I helped anyone who was in a creative slump.  At the very least I hope I made someone out there smile!  

Please visit some other blogs I enjoy visiting!

http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com/
http://scrappyhorses.blogspot.com/
http://pippascraftyworld.blogspot.com 

Dr. Suess Inspired

The outside looks pretty plain.  But once you get past the awesome lettering from Chalk Fonts you get the Dr. Suess inspired thank you.
The colors are from the adventure pack and whimsy.  I also used a black and a daisy white piece of cardstock.

On the inside it says:
From the bottom of my heart
All the way to finish from the start
With the graphing lines of this chart
From the center with my dart
And with a delicious chocolate tart
I hope this card made you smile
And you'll think of me fondly, at least for a while

This is for Heart 2 Heart's Inspired by a book challenge and I chose Green Eggs and Ham as my book!

Boys Camping Out

This card is for a family friend and he has two grandsons that he adores.  I thought this would be perfect for the Fantabulous Cricut Camping Out Challenge.

The cuts are all from Nate's ABCs and the paper is all from Close to my Heart.  I thought these cuts were fun and fit together well.

Sorry for the shine on the tent, the lighting in our apartment isn't great and I had to use the flash.

Hoddie Birthday

This card is for my father-in-law.  I don't have a challenge to put this in, but I wanted to share it anyway.  The sweatshirt is like the ones he and my husband wear when they are touring.  They both work part time at a Ziplining activity in Crawfordsville, IN.  

The zipper really works!  I had to use a hot glue gun to get it to stay in place.  

Happy Koala

This card is for my step-daughter's birthday.  She will be 6 this year.  

I chose bright colors having purple being the base color.  Lucy loves purple and the other colors are my favorite color, my husband's favorite color, and Lu's other favorite color.  

The koala is a cut from Create-a-Critter and I thought this would be a great card to put in Fantabulous Cricut's Sketch Challenge.

All parts of this card were made from Close to My Heart products.  

CTMH Party Invite

   I am having a Close to my Heart party and needed to make an invitation.  I used the Create a Critter cartridge to create the four layers of the owl.  

   The base of the owl is gypsy, the second layer is pacificia, third layer is lagoon, and the feet and beak are sunset.  These are all part of the adventure pack at Close to My Heart. 

 The stamp on the back is from the Cricut Art Philosophy Tags from the Cricut collection from Close to My Heart stamps.  

   I love the create-a-critter cartridge, the critters are adorable.  The colors are fun and seemed to go well together.  The only part I didn't really like was how small I had to write.  

   Challenge I will enter: BBTB2

Colorful Thank You

   This thank you card is for the Color My Heart challenge.  I used all Close to my Heart products for this card.  
   The colors used were: Barn Red, Crystal Blue, and Pacifica.  I used stamps sets: A Flowering Bunch and Dancing Notes.  
   Three hearts signify the three people in my family, me, my husband, and Lucy.  I liked how the flowers turned out because they kind of look like fireworks at the bottom of the card.  
   It's a simple card, but it's a fun one.