Make it Monday - Still Stamping!

Hey friends!  Today, I wanted to share another card I made for Mother's Day.  My theme this year is "Paris in the Springtime".  I challenged myself to see how many different cards I could come up with from just two stamps.  You saw that cute little bicycle stamp here, and this week, I'm using this lovely dress form, from Unity Stamp Company.  Love the vintage feel mixed with the modern and so feminine hot pink and animal print! 

I am having so much fun playing with these new stamps AND seeing how much of my stash I can use up!  I want to send a huge *hug* and big thanks to my girl Donna K, over at Created by DonnaK for inspiring me to branch out into the world of stamps. 

 

I don't know that I'll ever give up my stickers just yet, but I do like the flexibility of stamps.  Soon, I'm gonna break out the copics that are just gathering dust in my studio LOL! 

Are you a diecut, sticker or stamp lover?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

{{Hugs}}

 

Kimberly

EtsyMom Spring Color Palette Challenge

One of the things I appreciate most about being an Etsy shop owner is the chance to be on a team with other moms doing what they are passionate about!  I  joined the EtsyMom team soon after I opened my 1st shop and have been joining in it's fun events ever since!  This time around I'm playing along with the Spring Color Palette Challenge.  We got to choose the palette of colors to work from and the Berry Bright colors below won the vote.  Beginning April 29th, you can join in the fun and vote on your favorite item.  Here is a little sneak peek at one of the two items I came up with. 

Can you guess what it is?  More details to come soon!

 

Thanks for dropping by!

 

{{Hugs}}

 

Kimberly

Make it Monday - Chalkboard Restyle

Happy Earth Day!  I looked through some of my old photos to find my favorite upcycled project with you.  I remembered this little cutie I restyled for my daughter's room a couple of years back.  I don't have before pics, but trust, it was an old faded chalkboard with a rooster on it (I think), hung from rope.  I came up with the idea for the chalkboard to keep my dear daughter on task while she gets ready in the morning :)  It was also one of the first paper piecings I did from a digital stamp. 

 

 

This little cutie is just adorable and reminds me of my girl and her two "bun-buns" as she calls them.  The black paper is embossed, giving her hair a textured look, I love it!  The fairy girl is a digistamp from digistampcharacters on Etsy.  I tried to add as many of her favorite things I could, school (thankfully!), the colors green, purple and pink and the sequined butterfly.

 

 

I am always looking for ways to reuse, recycle and repurpose with my crafting, how about you?  What's one of your favorite re-do's? 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

{{Hugs}}

 

Kimberly

Saturday Spaces ~ Created by DonnaK

Hi Polka Dot Fans!  You are in for a treat on today's Saturday Spaces.  We get to take a peek behind the scenes of where the uber-talented card-making diva, Donna K, makes her magic happen. 

 

Hello friends!  Donna K here and I just wanted to say thanks for stopping by today and allowing me to share my studio space with you.  I'd like to give a great big THANK YOU to my sweet and talented friend Kimberly for inviting me to bring you into the teeny corner of my creative world.  

 

My studio doubles as our guest room.  As we set up our home I didn't really have a budget for my space. We just kind of went with it and tried to make the most of the furniture and storage items I had on hand.  I occupy this room the majority of the time, but this spring it has been BUSY! We've had lots of guests.  This is a good thing because it forces me to get organized and actually put things away!

 

I enjoy being in this room because it's in the front of the house.  There are lots of windows and it allows me to daydream  .... errr ahhh .... create with the view of the birdies and squirrels.   I have a table that was once our kitchen table.  We didn't have space for it in the actual kitchen so YAY me... it became all mine!  It's sturdy and big and I love it.   On the wall beside that table is the wall shelf that matches the table.  Yes, it's another kitchen/dining room piece, but it works perfectly for holding my baskets of stickers, tags and my stamps. Yes... I hoard  collect stamps. No favorite brand... I love them all.  

 

In the closet you will find 12X12 papers, embellishments, and all sorts of tools. It is slam packed full and no matter how hard I try to keep it organized, things tend to end up spread out on the floor.  
 

As many times as I say I'm going to put everything away when I start a new project, I get on a roll and before I know it BOOM... it looks like a windstorm struck.  

 

This white cabinet is one of my favorite pieces. It has 6 large drawers for tons of storage. I keep my wooden stamps in here and all of my metal embellishments as well. It's an IKEA piece and was fairly inexpensive. The top is great for holding my Big Shot and my paperwork.

Another piece of kitchen gear is the "microwave" cart.  It's perfect for my Cricut that doesn't get used nearly enough.  I'm thinking of switching it out for something that gets used more often.

 

 

As you can see I have to make the best of my "space"  I use the dresser for storing my mailing supplies, alterables and other tin items.  If we have extended visitors I can just put all of that stuff neatly in a bin so the dresser is available to guests. 

Check out this disaster zone after a day of working on orders!!

Below you can see the "before" photos as I was preparing to set up my new space. 

              

 

Right now I'm not planning on anything new in my studio space.  I'd LOVE hard wood floors and to have the entire room to myself eventually.  I feel so fortunate that I have a pretty place to work and spend my time.  

 

Thank you for letting me bring you into my world for a bit.  

Please leave a comment about your creative work space.  

Have a happy day today!

~Donna K

 

 

I love how Donna carved out the perfect spot in her guest room for her studio...I know I picked up some neat ideas from her, how about you? To check out Donna K's lovelies, head over to her sweet little blog here.

Make it Monday - Junqe Journal Times Two

 Happy Monday Polka Dot fans!  My tween daughter went to a birthday party over the weekend and we decided to make "junque" journals for the twin girls...the day BEFORE the party.  At first I thought, I'll just alter the covers of 2 composition notebooks, but then I thought it would be fun to add more embellishments and patterned papers...needless to say, the project turned into a semi-all nighter for me. But, my daughter was pleased with them, so I guess the lack of sleep was worth it?!?

 

 

  I knew I wanted to use these "paper dolls" I ordered awhile back from Kang Byeol's Tick Tock Shop, here on Etsy.  Love their modern vintage look and the pink hair is adorable.   I layered up the cover with papers, journaling cards and stickers from my stash (okay fine, my hoard). 

 

 

These altered folders are throughout, for the girls to tuck in mementos from the party or whatever special things they want to hold onto.  Think this paper is oh so sweet?  Well it is!  It's DCWV's glittery "Sweet Stack", perfect for birthdays!

With the 1st notebook, I discovered 3/4 of the way through (at about midnite), after tearing out pages, that I didn't do it so carefully and the pages started coming away from the binding!  (I 've since learned that if you tear out the 1st page, you have to tear out the last).  This picture is from the 2nd one, where I decided to take the covers apart and punch holes in them, the paper, envelopes and patterned papers.  I used metal binder rings to hold it all together. Luckily, this method was much quicker!

 

 I added lots of patterned paper and journaling cards, for photos and pictures. I was all set to add some stamping and other embellishments but did need to get a FEW hours of sleep. 

Definitely think I'll be making more of these as gifts, they are a great way to give something that is one-of-a-kind gift and to use up some of the stash!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

{{Hugs}}

Kimberly

Paris in the Springtime ~ Mother's Day Card

Bonjour my lovely friends!  I'll bet you card makers have already started getting your Mother's Day ideas put together.  I wanted to share one of the cards I made as part of the batch I'm sending to a floral boutique in North Carolina.  The theme for Mother's Day at the shop is "Paris in the Springtime" and at first I was completely at a loss.  I'm trying to use only what I have available on hand, and the best I could come up with was some scrap paper with the Eiffel Tower on it! 

 

Sooo, I got some ideas for colors and style from, you guessed it, Pinterest.  I put the colors together with some Unity Stamps I just got.  I decided to *challenge* myself and see how many combinations I can come up using just the 2 stamps.  Here's the first one.

 

Not my usual dimensional stickers, I know...does it make you think of  Paris?  More pictures to come next week!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

{{Hugs}}

Kimberly

Make it Monday - 5 Minute Hybrid Birthday Card

Happy Monday Polka Dot fans!  My son had a birthday party to attend on Saturday and I had no card or gift bag...but I'm sure that's never happened to you *wink*.  Since I can not bring myself to buy a store bought *handmade* card, I rely on my 5-minute technique, a hybrid digital and paper card.  My craft consultant (my son) said he wanted a Lego card to match the gift and I found the perfect free printable on 74 Lime's blog here. 

Not only did Kellie have the cutest Lego images,

she had other images I could use for a matching gift bag.  I just printed the images onto white cardstock, cut them out and placed them on top of a solid colored mat and patterened paper.

 

So cute and QUICK! 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

{{Hugs}}

 

Kimberly

Saturday Spaces - Pretty Ribbon Storage

Hey friends...I've been working hard finishing up my taxes, but I did find time to work on a little craft room organization.  I don't know about you, but it seems like I keep searching for just the right way to store my ribbon, so that it is accessible AND mobile so I can take it with me wherever I'm crafting in the house.  I decided a few years back I liked the look of clear glass jars, but *somehow* the ribbon came off the spool and I found myself just stuffing the ribbon in them...not so pretty, right?

Then, I saw this pretty little picture on Pinterest here and knew I found a way to store and display

my ribbon that is so pleasing to the eye!

 

It only took me a couple of hours to wind most of my stash aroumd these wooden craft sticks.  They come in different sizes, I used ones that are about 5 7/8 inches long by 3/4 inch wide.

 

They work well for different ribbons widths too...

 

For the wider ribbons, I decided to keep them on the spools and store them in a larger glass jar.

 

Nothing like functional and pretty!  How do you keep your ribbon stash handy?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

{{Hugs}}

 

Kimberly

Capture Life's Little Moments

Hey Polka Dot peeps!  If you don't already know, you will find I have a thing for buttons. Vintage or new, twine-wrapped or not, they are a perfect accent to cards, layouts and altered art!  So, I knew I had to get in on the fun over at Craftin Desert Diva's "Cute as a Button" Challenge.  This little journal has a lot of my favorite elements, like twine, mason jars, pennant banners and my new obsession: paper tape.

 

Love all the patterns washi tape comes in; especially the polka dots!

 

Seeing the cover of this journal would definitely get the creative juices flowing, don't you think?

 

And, of course I had to cover the inside pages too :)  Filled with photos, journaling, sketches, you name it...this journal would make an awesome junque journal or smash book.

 

Where do you store your creative ideas?

 

Thanks for stopping in!

 

{{Hugs}}

 

Kimberly

Make it Monday - Sock Bunny for Easter

Happy April 1st!  I thought of playing a prank today...posting that Polka Dotted Bliss is closing, but I'm just not that good at pulling off practical jokes, so I'm sticking with Make it Monday! 

 

Today, I'm sharing this adorable little sock bunny I originally saw on the super cute Pumpkin and a Princess blog here.  We're not big on stuffing a lot of candy in the Easter buckets (yes, buckets, that's how we roll) and I thought this would be something adorable the kids could hang onto!

 

Aside from hot pink color of the girls' bunnies, the most adorable part?  That fluffly little pom pom tail.  I followed the tutorial for them here blog ...easy peasy!  You might recognize that turquoise yarn from last week's wreath post here...I'm trying to stick to my "no new craft supplies" goal, so you just might see it again in a future project!

 

 

The kids were so excited that morning when they saw their goodies, especially the bunnies peeking out from their buckets!

 

 

 

3 little bunnies for my three favorite little peeps! 

 

I hope your Easter was filled with joy and the many blessings of family and love!

 

{{Hugs}}

Kimberly