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.

Free Add-On & Coupon

I had such good intentions when I started blogging - write almost everyday, include links to all my favorite sites, and journal the interesting things that happen in my life. Needless to say, by my standards I've been a bad, bad blogger. Now I have to decide whether to change my blogging habits or my blogging standards. :-)
I do have a free add-on for you. After I finished the Castles & Kings kit I came across a couple more pictures that were perfect for it and also liked the results of some metal work I was experimenting with. At the bottom of the page is the link for the pack and it also includes a 40% off coupon for the kit that is available here.

Add-On



Castles & Kings



The Add-On link is here.

Fairy Wings & Flutterby Things

I finally got a new kit done and ready for the store. It was fun to do because I love the pastel colors and vintage fairy illustrations. The kit ended up so large that I split it into two parts. To celebrate getting it done I'm going to give a 50% off coupon good on More Fairy Treasures to anyone who posts a layout using Fairy Wings & Flutterby Things between today and 9/12.
When I work on a kit it takes on a life of it's own. This one did not start out as pastel, sparkle, and lace, but that's how it ended up and I like it. I started work today on Castles & Kings. It's looking good so far in bright, primary colors. We'll see where it ends up!

Wonderful Challenge

I can not believe the wonderful layouts that have been posted for the Book House Treasures challenge! The creativity and variety are amazing. If you have a minute hop on over to Kathryn Balint Digital Scrapbooking and check them out. Here's the link to the gallery:
Book House Treasures Gallery

Free Kit with Challenge!

Sorry for being AWOL but we're back in school now and made it successfully through the first week. I'm hosting my first challenge ever over at Kathryn Balint Digital Scrapbooking. Go here to get all the information. There is a kit sample you can download now, and if you post a layout between the 19th and the 25th you get a coupon to get the rest of the kit free! Here's a look at the sample and the kit preview:

Ready For School?

Can it really be time to go back to work? The summers seem to get shorter every year, but I still enjoy the excitement of going back to school. I'm as bad as the kids when it comes to wanting new school supplies and a new outfit to wear on the first day. I could spend hours looking at all the cool notebooks, pens, pencils, paper clips, markers, folders, etc. I might have to have these:


For all of you starting school on Monday, have fun!!!

Kits & Free Gift

Finally finished my kits!!! You can read about My Mother's Garden and Mini Collage Frames by clicking on the kit previews. As promised there is also a free gift for you at the end of the post. Thanks for being so patient!





This is a set of 1" glass buttons. I called them Gabby Glass or is it Glassy Gab? Anyway, try saying either one of those ten times fast. I think that's why I didn't use 'Glassy Gab' - if you say it fast it always comes out gassy. They come with six different frames. You can load them up with any backgrounds or words that you want or try a few of the ones I included. Have Fun!

Angel Eyes

Angel Eyes is a mega kit for a great cause. It is a joint effort of many designers and has been done to help the mother of MandaBean (Amanda) a designer at SweetShoppe. Amanda's mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. This is a beautiful kit with soft colors and tons of elements. It also comes with a coupon book good for 10% - 40% off from a long list of designers & shops. Click on the kit preview or here to take a look!