Laurie Fairy

I started summer school today. One week off was way too short of a break! It's fun to meet the new staff and kids though. I did have a great time at the scrapbook convention last Friday. Came home with some new ideas and a couple of tote bags of new products. My favorite was the Heartwarming Vintage Collection from Crafty Secrets . I was inspired by their great collection to rum age through my things to make up this new little kit that you can find at E-scape and Scrap:

I'm out of school for the summer!!! Woo-hoo!!!!! and I'll add a few more!!!!!! I love my job, but all the excitement of the last day of school makes me feel like I'm 10 years old again. With summer comes my resolution to pay some attention to this poor blog. Maybe I can get in the habit of writing and keep at it once August comes.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Great American Scrapbook Convention with a Vicki and Jamie. We're not taking any formal classes just going to shop, shop, shop. I know I'll come home with lots of new ideas and motivation to design all summer.
Here's to summer! Have a great one!

Blogging For Bubbles

There's a gift waiting for you over in the free download area at KB and Friends. All you need to do in click on the gallery and scroll down to downloads. You'll see this mini-kit along with some great samples from all of our designers:

Here's my bubble layout:

It's really amazing how much fun you can have with just a little soapy water.

A Wee Bit of Magic

I made a new blog topper and switched over to the new template system last night. Still have some bugs to figure out though like how to add back in my blinkie links, clock, etc. My HTML comprehension is not at the same level as this template!

Blackberries Wanted

Daily Blog Prompt from Sempson: What was the last food you craved?
The last three days I have been wanting fresh blackberries. One of my friends picks them in her neighbor's back yard and has been bringing them for her lunch. I guess she hasn't noticed me drooling on the other side of the table. Hmmm . . . think I might link her to my Blog tomorrow!

Today was a great day. It's my "baby's" birthday. He turned 23 and we had a wonderful dinner with him and my sweet daughter-in-law.

Ads From the Past

I've been having fun looking through a couple of old, 1911 & 1908, magazines. The best part is the advertisements. It's amazing how many of the products are still around. There were ads for Jello, Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes, Heinz, Vaseline, & Domino Sugar among others. There are ads that make me wish I could still get the product. Beautiful lace and my favorite a set of gorgeous modular walnut bookcases for $25 each. Then there are the ads that make me glad that we've made progress since 1911. There's the Folding Bath Tub, the Magic Foot Drafts that promise to cure Rheumatism, and Baby's Rubber Outfit. Worst of all is The Natural Body Brace. It promises that it 'cures ailments peculiar to women' and believe me it looks anything but comfortable!
All that magazine browsing inspired this kit:



If you're not signed up yet for the newsletter at KB and Friends come on over. Almost every week features a new free gift for our subscribers. We are gearing up for a big birthday party all day March 31st so mark your calendar for chats, gifts, and fun!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Put on your green and have a very happy St. Patrick's Day! If you want this little blessing head on over to the free download area of KB and friends. Click here. Erin Go Bragh!

Tooting

I was so happy today to see that Melissa G. featured my Peek Inside! kit as her Digi Pick of the Day! Thanks Melissa!

KB and Friends!

Kathryn's site is now under a new domain name. It's KB and Friends and is located here. Come on over for a visit and change your bookmarks!

I've been having fun making a couple of element kits. One is called Loopy and was inspired by a certain little girls curls - lol! The second is Flower Frolics. I love these little blossoms and especially enjoyed making the quick page with a quote from J.M. Barrie.

Too Many Mondays!

We had another day off of school yesterday due to ice. Now you would think that would make all the school staff happy, but the reality is we have to give up a day off somewhere else to make it up so it's not as great as it sounds. It has seemed like a week of Mondays! I was able to do some scrapping and finish up the Faerie Lore kit yesterday. There will be a free little sample gift in Kathryn's newsletter on Saturday. Sign up for it here.

Faerie Lore / Dawn to Dusk





Newsletter Gift:

Wow, it was so nice to have a day off of school. It's still so cold here that I stayed in all day and that's fine with me! A little reading, a lot of design time make for a relaxing day.

"Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
Pooh's Little Instruction Book

Nature's Wind Chimes

I woke up this morning to a soft noise that sounded almost like distant wind chimes. When I looked out the window what I saw was that all of our trees and bushes where covered with a thin coat of ice. The chimes were the oak branches gently touching each other. Here's a photo of my holly with little ice jewels hanging on every branch. What a great day to stay home!

Another January 12th

It's my birthday and that makes me happy. I used to grumble about getting older, but a few years ago my dad said to me, "It's a heck of a lot better than the alternative!" You can't argue with that! I've had a great day and I'm celebrating by giving out jewelry; the digi kind. This coordinates with the fairy alpha that will come out sometime this weekend. Enjoy! I'll leave it up for a week. Please leave me a note if the link needs to be renewed.

PARTY FAVORS HERE

Fairies On the Brain

I'm having a great time working on a new kit, but the subject is fairies, again! This kit uses paintings from some of the great Victorian painters of the "realms of faerie". Here's an article if you are interested in the background of this art:
Art to Enchant: The Development of Victorian Fairy Painting

Welcome 2007

In the blog world I have been very sick with a bad case of Blogitis, sometimes known as Bloggers Block or Blogger laziness. There is no known cure but the best treatment is to get on your blog and type not worrying about what comes up on the screen so here goes . . .

I can not believe I have not updated this since October. Since then I've had a great Thanksgiving, wonderful Christmas, and added a daughter-in-law to the family. We love you Rachel! My best Christmas present was having my daughter home for a week. We had a great time but it was hard to put her back on the plane again!

Design wise I've done several kits and am currently having fun doing a series called A Little Whimsy. Almost forget, I got a new computer too. Woo-hoo!!! It's fast, has lots of RAM, and a Core Duo processor. Before I could read a book and design at the same time because every step took so long to run and forget it if I wanted more than three or four layers in a paper. Now I can fly through steps and have as much depth in papers as I want. It's great. My husband is very sweet because it was his computer that needed to be replaced but he took my old one so that I could have an easier time designing - thanks Terry!

Updated Link for Tennyson

My parents came from Illinois for a visit and just left yesterday. We had a great time. Those of you that live close to your parents are lucky. My dad's a night owl and mom's an early bird so between work and keeping up with both of them I'm worn out! Here's the new link for the Tennyson Add-On. Let me know if it runs out. Oh, and since my blogging is pretty sporadic - have a Happy Halloween!

Poet's Corner Sample

I loved visiting the cathedrals of England & Scotland. One of my favorite spots was Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, so it seemed to be the perfect name for these kits inspired by some of my favorite poets. At the bottom of this entry you'll find a link for a free sample that's an add-on to the Tennyson kit. If the yousendit runs out please let me know so I can renew the link.
Exciting things are happening over at Kathryn Balint Digital scrapbooking. Check out the contest coming up, the great page kits, new templates, and to top it all off Bette Duganitz has joined the team!

Here's a look at the Poet's Corner kit's, a sample layout and the free sample you can download:

Poet's Corner I / Emily Dickinson



My Cutie:



Poet's Corner II / Tennyson



Add-on:



Now click here for the Add-On download.
Thanks for visiting!!!

New Link For Castles Download

Hope everyone is having a good week. I am very busy putting together a scrapbook for my grand daughter's first birthday. It really has been a year of miracles and change. I'll post the link for the album when I get it done.
The new link for the Castles & Kings download is here.