live . craft . learn

short & {painfully} sweet

as some of you know i had emergency surgery saturday. totally unexpected however it is NOT life threatening anymore and i'm doing better but i've got a bit of a recovery ahead of me. i probably will not be online for a few more days. if i owe you an email or package or swap i cannot say when it will arrive or be answered but it will be as soon as i have more energy.

all my love, kl

my list {for today}

1. mail secret package to sarah
2. mail out raks to deanna, elise, emily & siany
3. finish organizing for online class & send out emails
4. continue to work on 2 new digi kits {one of which is a brush set!!}
5. finally crack into my oadt goodies
6. package up k8tykat order & mail
7. sign papers & notorize
8. make dinner {maybe!! if mike gets lucky... lol}
9. finish secret project i've been hinting about

here's to me getting it done today. because i have a stack of october afternoon goodies that i am dying to start on and i hate feeling like i am behind, which is exactly how i feel today.

norway {color}

i've been rendering alot of the shots from norway for a project i'm working on and i decided it was high time i started posting pics from the trip. on friday i hung out ALL day with ania, mari, ingunn and oddbjorg {who needs to get a blog!!}. we walked all over stavanger, but oddbjorg took us here first. one little street in town painted like a candy shoppe. there was SO much color and texture. and don't you just ♥ that sign above?

a lovely {october} afternoon

finally! my october afternoon dt box arrived today and it is lovely. all of it. i remember when michelle told wilna and i while we were walking around at summer cha that we HAD to go see this new company that was debuting because she had heard that their line was amazing. i remember standing in front of their booth and feeling like i had finally found another manufacturer that i could love completely {i know i don't have to explain my adoration for hambly!}. and now, i feel so grateful to be on this design team. because the papers and rubons and stamps are just as stunning as i remembered. so tonight. tonight i have a date with this pile, some pics from cha {because that is just fitting, isn't it??!?} and maybe the last of my norwegian chocolate. oh and some champagne. because receiving a box full of this requires at least one mimosa, you know!!?!

i think that brown paper in the lower right is my fav.

and i LOVE that they have brown rubons!! love. love. love!!

and so it begins...

the holiday season. i love it. the crafting. the decorating. the blustery falls days. the hot chocolate and stews and soups. i made these candles the other night in about 15 minutes with some hambly, martha halloween stickers, the new wonderful mm halloween line and some vintage crepe paper and sheet music.

it's a really fast and easy project. basically i just wrapped the crepe paper around the candles {i bought mine at a local grocery store} then i wrapped a pinked edge sheet of sheet music and added the beautiful mm halloween ribbon trims. added the layered hambly journaling overlay with sheet music, stickers and/or buttons then attached that with foam squares. that was it. let me know if you have any specific questions and want to make some for yourself!

in other news it seems that quite alot of you are interested in the you.me.us mini class, thank you!! this is such an exciting new development for me and i'm really looking forward to creating more classes... i'm already starting a new one. of course you can view the whole mini here in my gallery on SIStv and i just realized that it would be a great xmas book, all those bright nontraditional xmas colors, i think i need to make another one. there are lots of fun vintage goodies as well as new release hambly and papers from the exclusive SIStv collections {kelli crowe and adrienne looman}. i'll be sending out an email {probably monday morning} with payment details soon!

thanks again for the support!! xoxo

teaching

i've been thinking about teaching more and more since i returned from norway. i'm currently looking for more local lss's to teach at and of course open to any other travel teaching. but i've also realized i could be doing this online as well. it's a perfect match actually and something that i realized after helping sarah with a pdf for her my signature class {which i cannot wait to make!!}. you can take the class in your jammies or old vintage prom dress {lol} and you can do it at your pace, when the time is right for you.

so, i'm curious, how many of you are interested in taking a few classes, online, from me? i'm thinking the first class will be the me.you.us mini book class i taught in norway, but i'm still trying to decide if it will include a class product kit {that i would mail to you} or just be directions so you can compile it with your own products. what do you think? cost would be $10 for just directions or $25 with all of the product you would need to compile your mini, and there are lots of vintage bits and extras so you can probably make a lo or two with the left overs if desired {of course you would need to provide your inks, scissors, adhesive, etc}.

please, email me with your contact info if you're interested [kerry(at!)k8tykat(dot!!)com].

happy thursday!

natasha

i love war and peace. love. it is my all time go to book when i want to really settle in and treat myself. i especially love the old war and peace movie with audrey hepburn and henry fonda. have you seen it? audrey is exactly how i always picture her when i read... stately, human, and a romantic. henry fonda, not so much.

this is my newest digi kit i finished designing for the SIStv boutique. totally inspired by war and peace and russia it includes 12 basics including that awesome matryoshka doll paper and that pierced lace overlay paper that i adore. i've been learning so muchwhile i have been designing and realize i love the process just as much as the end result. i do some research, play with color, look at all my inspiration points plus i can do it when the kids are running around playing camping or races. i don't know why i didn't do this before.

this is a lo i created using the kit {more here}. i am loving how my digi designs are a bit simpler than my paper designs. as well all know, usually i just layer and crinkle and pierce and crinkle and layer and fold and staple and then i do it some more. but i think i like the simpler style of my digi los. plus i'm still learning so much in ps... anyone recommend a good ps book? not a scrapbook ps book, a real tried and true ps book for designing.

happy wednesday!!

from grace.

 

thomas dybdahl. mari and i did a little swap of goodies while i was in norway. american stuff for her. norwegian goodies for me. but i think i got the better deal because a huge cd set of this mans work was in my bag. i have been listening to him and his "october trilogy" ever since i got home. it's in the house. in the car. on my ipod. i. adore. it. and highly suggest you buy some. now!

you can see and hear more of him on youtube.

favorite moment #5 : happiness is*

this is the first time i have been able to scrap a picture of my grandfather, the man who i consider to be the best male role model i have ever had. he was magical. special. his eyes sparkled and glimmered with laughter and happiness. he loved me and i know it. down to my core. i was loved by him.

i've been looking at this picture for about 3 months now. up until this weekend i always put it back in the stack when i tried to scrap it. i just wasn't ready. until this weekend when i heard that a dear friend had lost their grandparent. a grandparent who meant as much to them as my grandfather did to me.

when i picked the picture up up this time i felt an overwhelming sense of happiness. because i know he loved me completely and i can still feel his love now. when i think of him. when i see a picture of him and now, when i scrap a lo about him.

i also wanted to keep this one simple. i didn't want all my usual piles of stuff i put on my los to overshadow the sentiment and the picture. so... i channeled some gigi magic {she is SO good at focusing on the journaling!! don't you agree?? love you and your style girl!} and kept it simple. you can of course see more of it here!

also... i promised a rak of some new release from hambly for the round #4 participants so deanna {prairiewillow} send me your addy sweets {and check out her lo here}! you've got a fat parcel waiting for you!!

so tell me.... what is happiness to you??!?
happy monday!

ding ding ding!!!

see that? that is the 50+ women {and me, down on the floor} who took my mini book class in norway. such an amazing & fun group. perky. happy. and excited... just the way i like 'em! ok... you've all been very, very, VERY patient. the winners of my class kits are :

random generator winner : dude! it actually picked #1, who would've thought....

i hope everything went fantastically.
i most recently went to europe: london, amsterdam,prague and paris.
i loved it.

Posted by: elise | October 06, 2007 at 11:45 AM

funniest winner : because i didn't know people still played with bidets!

Well, my funny travel might seem a little gross...but...my husband and I were staying at a bed and breakfast in Maine that was gorgeous! It also happened to have a bidet...which we had never seen before. We totally were playing with it like little kids...until we realized that if you turned it on too high it would hit the ceiling!! We are such dorks! :)

Posted by: emily (justem) | October 10, 2007 at 03:20 PM

okay ladies. send me your addresses {kerry[at!]k8tykat[dot!!]com} and i'll get your class kits out asap!

and stay tuned, because i have a new favorite moment prompt for tomorrow as well as the announcement of who won the hambly new release rak from fm #4.

and btw, it's good to be home!
xoxo