Happy Friday!

I can’t believe it is almost the end of May!  The kids are getting out of school in just a few short weeks, and I am anxiously awaiting for he sun to shine on a daily basis.  Here in the Seattle area, that usually occurs after the 4th of July, but it doesn’t hurt to wish.  So with this in mind, I want to share our June 2013 Hip Kit called “Hello Sunshine” with you.  It features brand new products from Lilybee Design & Crate Paper along with amazing products from Echo Park, Basic Grey & My Mind’s Eye.

Our June products will be available on our website this morning by you10am PST.  Keep in mind our Add-On Kits are available in limited quantities – so if you see something you like, make sure to act quickly so don’t miss out.  Don’t forget about our referral program – refer a friend to join our Hip Kit Club and you will receive a complimentary Add-On Kit.  This is a really easy way to earn fabulous FREE products. 

Our June kits will begin shipping on June 1st – so keep an eye out for your mailman!!!  :D

JUNE 2013 HIP KIT – HELLO SUNSHINE
main kitHip Kit Club Member Price: $25.00*  Individual Purchase Price:  $30.00**

Products Included:

• 1 sheet Crate Paper – DIY Shop – Project Paper
• 1 sheet Crate Paper – DIY Shop – Décor Paper
• 1 sheet Crate Paper DIY Shop – Design Paper
• 1 sheet Lilybee Design – Pinwheel – Lime Ricky Paper
• 1 sheet Lilybee Design – Pinwheel – Ice Cream Truck Paper
• 1 sheet Lilybee Design – Pinwheel – Lemonade Stand Paper
• 1 sheet Echo Park – Photo Freedom Vol. 1 – Your Smile Paper
• 1 sheet Echo Park – Photo Freedom Vol. 1 – Yellow Paper
• 1 sheet Lilybee Design – Sweet Shoppe – Alphabet Stickers
• 1 pkg. Lilybee Design – Sweet Shoppe – Chipboard Stickers
• 1 sheet Crate Paper – The Pier – Washi Paper
• 4 assorted Crate Paper – Maggie Holmes – Fabric Frames
• 1 pkg. Basic Grey – Mint Julep – Die Cuts & Transparencies
• 1 sheet American Crafts - Cherry Cardstock
• 1 sheet American Crafts - White Cardstock
• 1 sheet American Crafts – Butter Cardstock
• 1 sheet American Crafts – Shadow Cardstock
• 1 sheet American Crafts – Fountain Cardstock
• 1 sheet American Crafts – Light Kraft Cardstock

JUNE 2013 EMBELLISHMENT ADD-ON KITPrice: $22.95* 

*Hip Kit Club members receive a 15% DISCOUNT on all Add-On Kit purchases & they ship for FREE when shipping along with your main Hip Kit.

Products Included:

• 1 pkg. Pebbles - Basics Rouge Glittered Thickers
• 1 pkg. Lilybee Design – Sweet Shoppe – Embellishment Bundle
• 1 pkg. My Mind’s Eye – Find Your Wings – Enamel Dots
• 1 pkg. Basic Grey – Knee Highs & Bowties – Wood Veneer Flags
• 1 sheet Echo Park – Photo Freedom Vol. 1 – Label Stickers
  

JUNE 2013 PATTERNED PAPER ADD-ON KITPrice: $7.95* 

Hip Kit Club members receive a 15% DISCOUNT on all Add-On Kit purchases & they ship for FREE when shipping along with your main Hip Kit.

Products Included:  1 sheet of each paper shown above.

JUNE 2013 CARDSTOCK ADD-ON KITPrice: $3.80* 

*Hip Kit Club members receive a 15% DISCOUNT on all Add-On Kit purchases & they ship for FREE when shipping along with your main Hip Kit.

Products Included:  1 sheet of each paper shown above.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you are as exited as I am about the wonderful collection of products in our June Hip Kit.  Tomorrow I will be sharing a great collection of products created with our April/May 2013 Hip Kit, so make sure to stop by and check them out.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Sunday!

Hope you all are having a nice weekend.  Life is busy here – as our high school track & field season is still going on.  Yesterday, Mackenzie, our youngest daughter, competed at the District Finals Meet.  She ran the very first event and the very last one – so we were there all day and into the evening.  :D  It was pretty exciting – both her 4x200 meter relay team and her 4x400 meter relay team finished 2nd and will be moving onto the State Meet next week.  So very proud of her!!!  With that said, I am running a bit behind getting our June Hip Kit images finished.  I am locking myself in my office today until the images are done and I get them posted on our blog and onto our website.  Thanks so much for being patient, as there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done.  As much as I love track season, I am glad it will be over next week, and life will get back to normal.  :D

In the meantime, I want to share a couple of awesome cards by Melanie Blackburn that were completed with our March Hip Kit.  Her cards have lots of layering, texture and little details.  If you aren’t a cardmaker, you can find some great ways to create embellishment clusters on your layouts from Mel’s cards.  Enjoy!!!

As you look around at different manufacturers blogs, you will see that many of the projects include custom die cuts created with Silhouettes.  These automated machines precisely cut very intricate shapes.  The downside, is that Silhouettes cost around $300.00.  Our March Hip Kit included an awesome Jillibean Soup Placemat 12x12 honeycomb die cut and a sheet of Wiseword stickers.  The great thing about these new products is that they enable you to add that custom die cut "look” to your projects without the big investment of a Silhouette machine.  I love the way Mel used the placemat to create this fabulous background for her card.  The “today” sticker perfectly finishes her sentiment.  Adding a bit of machine stitching throughout is a really nice detail.

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I hope Mel’s cards have inspired you to find some time to do something creative today.  We would love to see how you incorporate the Jillibean Placemat from your March Hip Kit into your projects!!!  You can share a photo of your finished project on our Facebook page.  Make sure to come back again tomorrow to check out our June Hip Kit debut!!!  It is absolutely FABULOUS!!!  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that our June Hip Kit will debut tomorrow. I spent the entire day today at our District track meet where our youngest daughter completed in 3 events. She qualified to move onto finals on Friday.  If she finishes in the top 5 she will compete at the State 3A Meet next week. We are so proud!!! Make sure to check back tomorrow to see our June Hip Kit. You are going to love it!!!  Have a scrappy day!!!  xo - Kimberly -

Happy Tuesday!

I hope your week is off to a good start!  :D  Today I want to share a couple of amazing projects created by Bethany Crowell using our March 2013 Hip Kit.  I love the bright cheery colors.  They make me feel like summer is right around the corner.  I hope that Bethany’s projects give you lots of creative inspiration  and motivation to pull your March kit out and create something pretty with it.  Enjoy!!!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Tomorrow I will be announcing our awesome May Guest Designer and sharing a layout that she created using our fabulous April/May 2013 Hip Kit.  So, make sure to visit us again tomorrow.  You will definitely be so glad you did.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Saturday!

I hope you are all having a great weekend so far.  I know that my blog posts have been a bit sporadic lately.  Life around our house during the spring is always crazy.  As many of you know our teenage daughters play both club soccer and run track for their high school.  During this time of the year both of these sports overlap – which keeps us on the move as we watch and cheer them on at all of their games and meets. 

This year I offered to make a scrapbook for our oldest daughter’s soccer coach.  Several of the girls from her team aren’t going to continue to play after this season ends.  He’s coached many of these girls for 5 or 6 years, so we thought it would be nice to give him a special keepsake from his team.  I had each one of the girls give me a soccer photo from when they first started playing… at 5 or 6 years old, along with a few more current photos.  They also wrote thank you letters, and wrote down one of their favorite memories from being on this team. 

I took all of the photos and other memorabilia and used the products from our February Hip Kit along with a few other bits and pieces from my stash to create a layout for each girl.  I wanted to include all of the photos and letters, but I didn’t want the pages to be too busy.  So, I added a pocket or two on each page to hide the letters and extra photos.  After putting each page into the page protectors I cut slits where the pocket openings were so that extra goodies can be accessed without having to pull the page out of the sleeve.  I also added pull tabs to each of the extra photos and letters so they can be removed from the pockets.

Boy, it was a lot of work, but I am really happy with the way all of the layouts turned out – so I thought I would share them with you.  I think these pages are perfect examples of how you don’t need soccer themed paper and stickers to create great sports layouts.  Enjoy!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope that perhaps you are feeling inspired to pull out some of your sports photos and create a few “sports” layouts with some of your Hip Kits.  Remember, more inspiration is just around the corner.  Make sure to come back again tomorrow to see our next amazing collection of projects that were created with our March 2013 Hip Kit.  Have a scrappy day!!!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Thursday!

Have you noticed many manufacturer blogs have lots of projects with custom die-cut words, titles and shapes.  Many of these elements have been cut using a Silhouette or other automated die-cut machine, which can be really quite expensive.  Jillibean Soup created these fabulous Wiseword stickers that give that “Silhouette” look without the expense of having to purchase a costly die cut  machine.  We included a sheet of these stickers in our March 2013 Hip Kit. 
Stamping directly onto your layouts is also a really popular trend. I One thing that I have never had much luck with is stamping my title directly onto my page.  I never seem to space the letters correctly, and getting a good impression can be difficult if your layout contains a lot of layering.  The Amy Tangerine – Yes Please – Remarks Alphabet Stickers are translucent and when you add them to your projects they look as if they have been stamped.  Our March 2013 Embellishment Add-On Kit includes a package of these awesome alphabet.  This one package includes 4 different colors of translucent alphabet stickers, with almost 450 stickers in all.   Imagine how many titles and captions you could create with this one set of alphabet stickers…  these will go a really long way.

Cindy Stevens used both the Wiseword stickers and the Yes Please alphabet stickers on her layout.  The “you” and “me” next to the photo are from the Wiseword sticker sheet.  Don’t they look exactly like she cut it out with a Silhouette?  Nope, they are just stickers and they are quicker, easier and a lot less expensive. :D  Cindy used the aqua Yes Please Remarks Alphabet Stickers to create the “Selfie 2013” title.  They look as if they were stamped directly onto her layout.  I adore these stickers!!!

This layout by Bethany Crowell also includes the Yes Please alphabet stickers.  She used the aqua and orange (both from the same package).  One of the things that I like about these alphas is that there are subtle differences in color saturation of each alphabet.  Notice how the “m” is lighter than the “s” and the “r” is darker than the “n”.  Also when you layer them over one another you can see the mixed color, much like you would if you had stamped them with ink.  So cute!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you are inspired to pull out your March Hip Kit and create some amazing pages of your own.  Make sure to visit us again tomorrow for more creative inspiration.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Monday!

Today I have a couple of amazing layouts by Mel Blackburn to share with you.  She created both pages using the fabulous products in our March 2013 Hip Kit.  I love all of the texture and dimension that she adds to her projects.  It makes you want to reach out and touch them.  :D

Our March Embellishment Add-On Kit includes the Amy Tangerine Yes Please Remarks Alphabet Sticker Book.  You will love these translucent alphabet!  Each package includes 4 different colors.  Imagine how many titles and captions that you could create with this one book of alphabet stickers…

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope Mel’s fabulous layouts have inspired to you do something crafty today.  Tomorrow I will have a few more March Hip Kit projects to share with you, so make sure to stop by to check them out.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Sunday!

I hope you are having a good weekend so far.  Here in the Seattle area it is almost 80 degrees and sunny.  Today I have a collection of great “sunny” projects created by our amazing designers using our March Hip Kit & Add-On Kits.  Enjoy!!!

Bethany Crowell created these two cheery cards.  She has a knack for cardmaking…  each and every one of her cards are have a perfect combination of papers and accents.  How happy would you be if you got one of these sweet cards in your mailbox?

This layout is by Cindy Stevens.  I love the bright cheery colors and the whimsical design.  Using a black and white photo is a great idea when you are using colorful products.  This little trick allows your photo to stand out and be the focus of your page.Notice how Cindy added the white Jillibean diecut Placemat to the white cardstock to create an interesting foundation for her page.  She also hand stitched around the inside perimeter of a few of the honeycomb shapes with white floss.  This is a nice detail that adds a little extra texture to her page.The Amy Tangerine Daybook (from our March Embellishment Add-On Kit) has lots of interesting pages that can easily be used as accent layers on your scrapbook layouts and cards.  The chevron stripe vellum page layered under the photo is one of the pages from that book.

Mel Blackburn created this next layout using another sweet photo of her baby girl.  Mel’s pages always have an artistic flair to them.  I love the patchwork background and the machine stitching gives it a nice finished look.

Thanks for visiting again today!  I hope you are feeling inspired to do some creating of your own today.  Tomorrow I will have another collection of projects created with our March Hip Kit to share with you.  So, make sure to stop by to check them out.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -