Thursday Focus

Okay, I am away on vaca, but still wanted to post a little something for you today.

As you might or might not know, I love stamps (good thing huh!). I always considered myself a realistic when it came to my stamps and I have lots of flowers and leaves to prove it, but when I saw Melia's dragons (and kittys, Oh my), I fell in love!!!

So, the focus today is on Melia's Thanksgiving Dragons Stamp! It was the first stamp by Melia that I got (of course, we definitely will not discuss how many I have now)



And look at these cards from the QKD gallery using the stamp.

Friendly Reminder...

We are hosting a Fall blog hop and we'd love for you to come and participate! You are welcome to sign up and have your blog seen by all of the hoppers.. Or if you just like to hop, you're welcome too.

Click here for full details.

September 28 Blog Hop: Back-to-school project

Okay, so this is the last blog hop for the month of September. Where did the month go? More precisely, where did the entire year go?

If you're a parent, you're probably knee-deep in back-to-school projects and other school-related activities. So, the Royal Court would like to provide you with some incentive to get excited over homework and all that back-to-school jazz.

This week's challenge: How about some back-to-school inspired projects?
And here's a road map of the Blog Hop in case you get lost along the way:

QKD Blog --- You are here. =)
Shannon's blog
Dark Ink Sorority Blog
Alex's Blog
Whimsical Ink Sorority
Penny's Blog
Jules's blog
Roni's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Here's my altered notebook. This was so easy to make, I promise.

Instructions:

1. Measure patterned paper to fit front of notebook and adhere. Get a doily and bingo card. Adhere.

2. Ink up your chipboard pieces with various colors of ink. Ink them on white cardstock and set aside the inked white cardstock. Use dark ink for edges of inked chipboard.

3. Stamp Aged Text Background Stamp on lightest colored one. Adhere chipboard by piling some of them on top of each other.

4. Use brown ink to color white cardstock. Stamp sentiments from Friends Forever Stamp Set. Set aside.

5. Get the white cardstock you inked with the various colors of ink while inking your chipboard. Stamp birdcage from Every Season Stamp Set. Cut out and adhere to page.

6. Adhere sentiments on brown inked cardstock.

7. Add a postage stamp and a hot air balloon from Webster's Pages patterned paper.

And here's a close-up:

Do drop by the store as QKD is having a Fall Stamp Sale! Rubber stamps are at 30% off! And remember that remaining acrylic stamps are still at 60% off!

Now off you go to Shannon's blog HERE to see her fabulous creation. Till next time!

*hugs*
Nina

Fall Stamp Sale

Queen Kat Designs is having a Fall Stamp Sale!

Stop by the Queen Kat Designs online store and save 30% on all rubber stamps including personalized ATC backers, handmade by and return address stamps! Remaining acrylic stamps are still at 60% off!


File Card Journal Stamp - now only $1.80


Skully Stamp - now only $4.19 (until October 1 only!)


Handle with Care Stamp Set - now only $5.59 (until October 1 only!)

QKD Stamps are lovingly handmade by Queen Kat herself. And her prices are already incredibly reasonable but she goes crazy with sales. Hurry and get them while prices are low! =)

Verona's Saturday Challenge

Welcome again to the Verona Challenge. I'm happy you came. I have some fun news to announce first... Our winner from last week's Verona Challenge is....

Kapree Clark!

Congrats on your 3rd win!

Today is a special inspiration for you. I was searching the QKD gallery for the purrrrfect card to inspire us this week and came across this awesome card that Keely made...

I never would have thought to put different mermaids on 1 card! Keely, this is genius!!! So.. Here's the challenge for this week...

1. Use 1 cupcake on your card (sticker, stamped image, patch, ribbon, anything with a cupcake on it)
2. Use at least 2 stamped images on your card
3. Use 3 different things on your card (can be embellishments, papers, cardstocks, trims or anything other than a stamped image.)

Oh I'm so exctied about this challenge! I just love this card.

Technical Specs...

To be eligible for this week's prize, post a link to your project by Friday, October 1st 10pm EST. I will randomly drawn one winner for one of these goodies:

$15 QKD gift certificate if you use QKD stamps on your card

OR

$10 QKD gift certificate if you do not use QKD stamps on your card

I can't wait to see what you create!

To allow everyone a chance to win, each person is only eligible to win every 60 days. You may enter the challenge at any of our 3 Queen Kat Designs blogs:

Queen Kat Designs Blog
Whimsical Ink Sorority
Dark Ink Sorority

and the entry will appear on all 3! It will only count as one entry as each person gets 1 entry per week.

Please add your creation to the link below! Thank you for playing!

Saturday Surprise!

Okay, got so wrapped up in packing that posting was not on my mind! grrr!!! So, here is a post for today.

Have you heard about Charity Wings? No, well, now, you have, and Queen Kat Designs supports Charity Wings, a California Non-Profit Organization. Charity Wings is a resource for crafters and artists who wish to raise money and awareness for noble causes through unique and creative events. For more information please visit their website at www.CharityWings.org

Queen Kat Designs has three different stamp sets that you can purchase and 50% of the sale price of these stamps will be donated to Charity Wings.





So, head over to the store and help us support Charity Wings.

The Findings Kit

I'm a huge fan of The Finding Kits. Unlike other kits that just give you what everybody else has, or what every scrapbook store has, or worse, what the occasion of the month is, you're sure to find something unique and exciting in them.

I mean c'mon, pretty paper, funky embellies, cool ribbon, and a unique and totally exclusive stamp set, what crafter wouldn't be in seventh heaven?

For my project, I decided to be brave and finally dig in to my May/June 2010 Kit. (By the way, did you know it's on sale? Check it out HERE.)

I took a break from stamping and just used the fab Jenni Bowlin papers from the kit, the label stickers, handmade flower, the fiber ribbon, sequin string, star brad, and the chipboard keyhole.


Did you notice I'm kinda obsessed over flowers lately? The May/June Kit comes with these lovely handmade flowers made by Queen Kat herself.


Hope you have a lovely scrappy day!

*hugs*
Nina

September 21 Challenge: Halloween

We're bringing in Halloween a little early this year.

For this week's Halloween-inspired challenge, use any combination of orange, green, purple, black and white. Use 2, 3, 4 or all 5.

And here's a road map of the Blog Hop in case you get lost along the way:

QKD Blog --- You are here. =)
Shannon's blog
Dark Ink Sorority Blog
Alex's Blog
Meredith's blog
Whimsical Ink Sorority
Penny's Blog
Jules's blog
Roni's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Here is my take on the challenge:


And here are some close-ups:

This beautiful orange seam binding was dyed by Queen Kat herself. You can find her fun tutorial here. P.S. Vicki, you're brilliant!

The pumpkin sequin was adhered with Ranger Glossy Accents.

Stamps: Aged Text Background, Going Postal Stamp Set, Satisfaction Dragon Stamp

I colored the images with Whispers Markers.


The Satisfaction Dragon Stamp is just so fun to color. You can find him here.

Now off you go to to see Shannon's awesome creation HERE. Till next time!

*hugs*
Nina

Verona's Challenge...

Greetings Bloggers!

The Whimsical Ink Sorority Sisters would like to invite you to play in the Verona Challenge. It's a weekly challenge that we have each Saturday over at the WIS blog. Here's a copy of this weeks challenge...

Welcome to this week's edition of Verona's challenge. I've got a fun 3 part challenge for you. First off, here's your inspiration for the week...

This is Trinity, our Whimsical Ink mermaid for the month. She comes in a fun set with some fancy accessory stamps and sentiments. You can pick her up here. Ok.. Now on to your challenge..

Make a card using these two things:
1. 2 patterned papers
2. 2 flowers
3. 1 stamped image or more

everything else is up to you! Colors, sketches, embellishments.. It's all up to you.

When you're finished with your challenge, post your link here so we can see it.

Technical Info...


To be eligible for this week's prize, post a link to your project by Friday, September 24th 10pm EST. I will randomly drawn one winner for one of these goodies:

$15 QKD gift certificate if you use QKD stamps on your card
OR
$10 QKD gift certificate if you do not use QKD stamps on your card

I can't wait to see what you create! To allow everyone a chance to win, each person is only eligible to win every 60 days.

You can enter on any of our 3 blogs: (all entries from all blogs will be included in the prize drawing.)
Queen Kat Designs-- HERE
Whimsical Ink Sorority
Dark Ink Sorority

Please add your creation to the link below!! Thank you for playing!!

Friday Focus

Okay, I was super busy yesterday and didn't even make it to my computer to post a Thursday Focus, so here it is on Friday.

September is a busy month of birthdays around here; I have my mom's, my mother in law's and my great niece's birthday, all within 10 days of each other, so I definitely thought the focus should be on my favorite birthday set: the
Birthday Cake Stamp Set.

Check it out!



And, check out these cards made using it!

Join our Blog Hop

Fall is in the air… Summer is coming to a close and the weather is changing! Queen Kat Designs cordially invites you to sign up to participate in our first public blog hop. We are inviting all of our friends to join in the fun. The hop will be held on October 7-8th.

If you’d like to join us:
1. Send an email to bloghop@katstamps.com with your first and last name and your blog address. (Sign ups end on October 1st)

2. Make a Fall themed hand stamped card or tag for your blog post.

3. Make a blog post on your blog and set it to post on October 7th at 12:01 AM MST

4. Make sure the blog post stays at the top of your blog until midnight on October 8th so the hop isn’t broken for the hoppers.

5. Between October 1st and 3rd you will be emailed back with the person’s name and blog to hop to after yours. Make sure you add this info to your blog post so the readers know where to go next.

6. Add this blinkie to your blog so others can sign up too.



That’s it! In 6 simple steps you can be on the hop! I will send out reminder emails a couple of times before the hop. If you cannot participate please let us know so we can take you off of the hop list.

Each person who participates in the blog hop will be entered to win a $25 rubber stamp shopping spree at Queen Kat Designs!!

BONUS: Use QKD stamps on your creation and get 2 entries into the drawing!

What are you waiting for? Sign up and share this with your friends.

September 14 Challenge: Sketch

Welcome to another week of fab inspiration here at Queen Kat Designs!

This week's challenge is to use this beautiful sketch:

And here's a road map of the Blog Hop in case you get lost along the way:

QKD Blog --- You are here. =)
Shannon's blog
Dark Ink Sorority Blog
Alex's Blog
Whimsical Ink Sorority
Penny's Blog
Jules's blog
Roni's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Here is my take on the challenge:


I used the beautiful Virgo Zodiac Stamp HERE. I also used the sentiment from the Warm Fuzzies Stamp Set HERE.

I wanted to make an edgy, funky card to fit Virgo's personality. I used some Maya Road Mist and used the negative remnants of a chipboard letter set to create a graffiti-style background.

And here are some close-ups:

Rather than use three similar elements, I placed 3 different elements to keep true to the sketch.


My fave part of this card are the two key charms I've placed in a bed of Ranger Glossy Accents plus the crafty ribbon and twine.

Now off you go to to see Shannon's awesome creation HERE. Till next time!

*hugs*
Nina

Back to School

No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks? Ugh. Sadly, no. Cheer up, anxious parents and dismayed students, we're here to bring back the cool in school.

Here's a layout where I used traditional school items but which talks about my thoughts on life and what my son has taught me.

Whenever I think of back-to-school, I think of my favorite place -- the library. (Yes, I was such a nerd.) And of course that means I just have to pull out my Library Card Stamp.

P.S. This is my son circa five years ago. I so miss him being this small.

Inspiration challenge: Scrap about life lessons, the stuff you've learned so far. The most important learning doesn't actually happen in the classroom. This is your life. So go ahead and scrap it.

*hugs*
Nina

Thursday Focus

Flowers are so versatile and so much fun and Queen Kat Designs has so many flower stamps to chose from; one of my favorites is the Flower Patch Stamp Set.



Here are some cards from the gallery featuring this stamp:




I also used it for my card in the first edition of the Royal Inklings -- Have you checked it out yet -- it now, then you need to now!!!

Here's a link: Royal Inklings

September 7 Challenge: Sketch

Welcome to a new month and more beautiful new stamps to oooh and ahhh over here at Queen Kat Designs!

This week's challenge is to use this beautiful sketch:


And here's a road map of the Blog Hop in case you get lost along the way:

QKD Blog --- You are here. =)
Shannon's blog
Dark Ink Sorority Blog
Alex's Blog
Meredith's blog
Whimsical Ink Sorority
Penny's Blog
Jules's blog
Roni's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Here is my take on the challenge:

September is synonymous with my Mom's birthday for me. And one of her most fave colors is, you guessed it, pink and variations of.

QKD Stamps: Library Card Stamp, woman's face, crown, sentiment from Greetings # 3 Stamp Set

And here is a close-up of the beautiful stamps:


Hope you have an awesome day and do remember to check out the new releases at the QKD Store!

Now off you go to to see Shannon's awesome creation HERE.

*hugs*
Nina

Summer colors

So it must be back-to-school mode for most of you. But here at Queen Kat Designs, we say, bring on the sunshine!

In honor of summer, here is my layout using summer colors:


Made this layout recently because I've been meaning to scrap these Neoprint photos forever. (Neoprint booths were all the rage when I was in college until a couple of years after. It's like those Japanese photo booths only the photos come out in tiny stickers.)

Growing up, I was such a nerd and didn't have a lot of friends. But my cousins and younger brother were there and have always made me so thankful I have them in my life.

I used the lovely Virgo Stamp for this one HERE.

So do you have any memories from this past summer or even summers past that you'd like to commemorate on a layout? We'd love to see what you come up with.

*hugs*
Nina

Thursday Focus

Hi guys, it is Thursday again (where did the week go!) and I am back with another Thursday focus.

This week, I pulled out one of my favorite stamps. I fell in love with this stamp after I saw a project that Jules had used it on and knew that I had to have it!!!

It is the Swirl Tree Stamp.



And as to Jules' card that was the inspiration for my love -- here it is



And here's one that I did:




Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to head to the store and see all the new releases!! YUMMY!!!