Inner Beauty

One of my favorite books ever is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; I love this book for its child-like look on life and for its profound wisdom. One quote always sticks out in my mind when I think of this book: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Thinking about this quote made me think of this fabulous stamp available at Queen Kat Designs - Inner Beauty



With this fabulous caterpillar, she can see what she is going to be! I love this stamp and think it is wonderful for a pick me up card or even a graduation card (graduation is just a few weeks away here!). Check out what I did using it.




Thanks so much for stopping by!

Meet Mitzi Wiuff

Mitzi Sato-Wiuff (pronounced sah-toh-view) is originally from Japan. Art was something she was drawn to from very early in her childhood.

Although her college major was in psychology and she is self-taught in art, Mitzi made her early marks in the field of visual art with her colored pencil landscapes. Her pieces are seen in such publications as "The Best of Colored Pencil 4" and "The Best of Colored Pencil 5" (both by Rockport Publishers) and earned her a status of the Signature Member with the Colored Pencil Society of America in the late 1990's.

She started drawing purely for the fun of it, doing fan art of Japanese anime and manga series and sharing them with like-minded friends she made at deviantART.com (Aruarian Dancer is her dA user name she signs many of her pieces with.). Mitzi gradually saw a shift in her interest from doing fan art to more and more original art of her own. She first experimented with doodle-like drawings with details in ballpoint pen on paper in surrealistic themes. One of her drawings was recognized with the honor of a Daily Deviation feature. This further encouraged her to pursue her own art and to develop her own style.

Mitzi's art shows the influence of manga and tattoo artists of her native Japan. Her line-centric approach is an homage to the rich heritage of Japanese art and printmaking that spans hundreds of years. She continues to experiment and perfect her technique of digital coloring that is unique to her style.

Now that we know a bit about Mitzi, lets hop over to Jules' blog for a fun creation using one of Mitzi's new stamps!

Today's Blog hop order is:
Jules
Chris
Penny
Jan
Janie
Holley

April 26 Triple Tiara Tuesday Challenge

Welcome to another Triple Tiara Tuesday! We invite you to get inspired and participate in this week's technique challenge courtesy of Splitcoastampers:

Brick Wall Technique

This week's challengers are: Jules, Chris, and Jan.

Get inspired, make your own creation, then share with us a direct link to your project.

*******************************************

Here are the rules of Triple Tiara Tuesday:

- Each week 3 Royal Court Members will host a challenge on their blog.

- You start right here at the QKD blog and visit the 3 challenge hosts on their personal blogs. (Leave us some love and a link to your project so we can return the favor. *wink*)

- QKD will offer up a $25 stamp gift certificate for the players to compete for each month. So if people enter each week, they have 4 chances to win the monthly prize of $25.

- The contestants will post their link to their card on the Inlinkz widget here on the blog. (There will be 1 per month.)

Hello Monday

the weather is warming up and motorcycle weather is around the corner ...out here in the west we are hoping the snow is done!!! and we can ride soon. there is nothing like riding and the air rushing around you, the sun shining and the wide open blue skies. A great feeling of peace (no cell phone distractions cause you can not here it)....time to ride, peace and motocycle stamps can be found at QKD store
have a wonderful paper crafting day dreaming of all the goodness of spring and warmer weather.
=0)
jeanie

Happy Easter!

Well for a change of pace, I am showing some of my favorite card designs from the Design Team for the next few weeks.
This one uses the Curious Kitty stamps set. I found it the cool idea Gallery at Queen Kat Designs.
With the pretty pastels, scallops, bow and pearls it just called out to be shown on Easter. A darling little card like this would have been perfect for an Easter Basket, or maybe a cute little basket of may day flowers.
To be honest, this is my most used stamp set. That little kitty and dragonfly go on a lot of packages when I have time to dress up my mail.

Thursday Thoughts (on Thursday!)

Can you believe it? Yes, you are not dreaming; I actually got this post out on time for this week.

Thursday thoughts -- well, right now, I am "wound up tighter than a top" my husband would say. It is that time of year, and as I thought about that and how I feel, I realized the Wind it Up Girl Stamp would be perfect to express how I am feeling right now (and probably some of you as well.)

This stamp is designed by Christina Lynn Myers and it is fabulous!!


And here's a couple of cards using this stamp:




Thanks so much for stopping by QKD today! Make sure you check out the store and the new releases from yesterday!!!

Welcome Jaz Higgins!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Thanks for coming to the release today. We are debuting Jaz Higgins' stamps. She's a great artist that paints "Big Eye" art.

From Jaz: "For as long as I can remember I have loved anything creative - you could say I was born with a paint brush in my hand! After finishing a Commerce and Marketing Degree in 2006, I realized that pursuing my dream of being a full-time artist is what I needed to do. So now, my day to day existence is dedicated to art, being a wife, a mummy and everything that comes with those tags!

My inspiration comes from vintage storybooks, dreams, movies, nursery rhymes, Alice in Wonderland, steampunk, sea creatures, mermaids, museums, art...the list goes on and on."

Please come along on the blog hop with us and enjoy the creations by the royal court using Jaz's new stamps! Her stamp release party will take place tonight at 7pm PST on our Facebook Fan page.

Here's the hop order for today:
QKD- you're here!
Valerie
Linda
Janie
Maria
Jan

April 19 Triple Tiara Tuesday

Welcome to another Triple Tiara Tuesday! We invite you to get inspired and participate in this week's challenge with this gorgeous color combination courtesy of Betsy White:



This week's challengers are: Holley, Jeanie, and Morag.

Get inspired, make your own creation, then share with us a direct link to your project.

*******************************************

Here are the rules of Triple Tiara Tuesday:

- Each week 3 Royal Court Members will host a challenge on their blog.

- You start right here at the QKD blog and visit the 3 challenge hosts on their personal blogs. (Leave us some love and a link to your project so we can return the favor. *wink*)

- QKD will offer up a $25 stamp gift certificate for the players to compete for each month. So if people enter each week, they have 4 chances to win the monthly prize of $25.

- The contestants will post their link to their card on the Inlinkz widget here on the blog. (There will be 1 per month.)

Chat Avec Le Chapeau

The stamp is called Chat Avec Le Chapeau Which translates as Cat with Hat. After I did the inking, but before I sat down to design the borders and paint it, I came up with this crazy idea for a steam punk sort of world. In this alternative history the Cherokee manage to hang onto their land and advance scientifically while the rest of the U.S. is embroiled in the civil war. Hence the words "KawMaMa, your choice for dependable Cherokee Engineering." KawMaMa meaning "butterfly" for this beautiful emergence that I imagined. And making a steam punk fairy cat as an engineering marvel being shown with nifty designed steam punk hat (that must hold some cool mechanical magic of it's own), amused me.
And yes, my mind works in very strange ways. But then I paint cats with wings for a living, which should have been a clue that I might not be normal. But normal is boring. Fairy cats are fun.

Thursday Thoughts - Saturday Style!!

Okay, no excuses here, I have really got to post my Thursday Thoughts early because if my schedule continues, I am never home on Thursdays!!! Then yesterday, well, just say, I am glad yesterday is over!

So, what do I have to share with you today -- I was in the store looking to see what I wanted to add to my collection of stamps and came across these stamps. And they reminded me of how much I love the versatility of the stamps that are available at QKD!

First, Silhouette Fairy designed by Kirstin Mills.



And Pansy Girl by Mitzi Wiuff (oh my do I love pansies)



And finally today, there is Mermaid Poodle Bath by Sherri Baldy (my 10 year old daughter is dying for this one!!)



Oh my is all I can say and again, it is so fabulous that QKD has all of these different styles and these are just a small, very small, sampling of what there is available!!! I definitely need to go shopping!!!

The Lighter Side of Dark

Today we are welcoming the Lighter Side of Dark kids to the team! Shannon Rene Justice of Lolli Pop Labs has one heck of an imagination! We are pleased and honored to have these cuties in our stamp line up. The "Lighter Side of Dark" collection was my very first 'dark' series and has gained world wide recognition since it first debuted on Zazzle.com back in 2007. Due to the ever growing fan base begging for a book based on the characters, I set out on a search for the perfect writer to help me bring my dark little darlings to life...and I use the term 'life' loosely. I found the amazingly talented Canadian author, Paul Rees-Jones, on an Australian based art site and in March of 2009, "The Lighter Side of Dark Book One: Enter the Yard" became available for purchase on Amazon. Since the release of the first book, the original members of the group have multiplied to include a number of new ghoulish creatures that will make their appearances in the upcoming books in the series. A "Lighter Side of Dark" gift application was soon after created on the popular social networking site, Facebook so that fans could send their fave characters to all of their friends. The ap has more than 18,922 users. Please join the royal court for a blog hop. We will have the stamp release tonight on our Facebook page at 7pm PST! Please jump over to Chris' blog now for your first stop on the hop! Today's Hop order: QKD- You're here! Chris Linda Bonnie Janie Jan Holley Maria

April 12 Triple Tiara Tuesday

Welcome to another Triple Tiara Tuesday! We have a winner from last month!! Congrats to Kapree Clark! She won a $25 gift certificate to Queen Kat Designs for Rubber Stamps! We invite you to get inspired and participate in this week's challenge with this inspiration photo: This week's challengers are: Linda, Maria, and Janie. Get inspired, make your own creation, then share with us a direct link to your project. ******************************************* Here are the rules of Triple Tiara Tuesday: - Each week 3 Royal Court Members will host a challenge on their blog. - You start right here at the QKD blog and visit the 3 challenge hosts on their personal blogs. (Leave us some love and a link to your project so we can return the favor. *wink*) - QKD will offer up a $25 stamp gift certificate for the players to compete for each month. So if people enter each week, they have 4 chances to win the monthly prize of $25. - The contestants will post their link to their card on the Inlinkz widget here on the blog. (There will be 1 per month.)

hello Monday

Hello Monday....here is a happy message.
we don't always like Mondays so we should plan something fun to make it easier so......You can make it through. Stamp something today a quick little card or tag and put it where you can see it all day!!!! I used alcohol ink on the background on a white shipping tag....black ink, flowers and friends stamp set and happy is a choice, a little ribbon and basic grey bling....bright and happy colors....happy paper crafting day to you!
 jeanie

Fairy Cat with Books

This little fairy cat was one of my earliest little winged kitties. I love how his wings look like stained glass. He is painted in bright jewel tones, perfect for a fantasy cat.

Pst! Over Here! Look!!

LOL! Did I get your attention? Well, maybe!

I thought I would share a stamp with you that has such tremendous potential and is so much fun as well! The Cutie Rubber Stamp



One of the things I love about this stamp is that the rectangle she is holding is perfect for your sentiments!!!

I used it for this card here:



So make sure you pick up this fabulous stamp!!!

Welcome April!

Welcome to the April release day of a new batch of gorgeous Queen Kat Designs stamps! Get inspired and show us your creation with this week's Triple Tiara Tuesday challenge!

Here is this week's Triple Tiara Tuesday sketch:



This week's challengers are: Valerie, Gretchen, and Bonnie.

Get inspired, make your own creation, then share with us a direct link to your project.

*******************************************

Here are the rules of Triple Tiara Tuesday:

- Each week 3 Royal Court Members will host a challenge on their blog.

- You start right here at the QKD blog and visit the 3 challenge hosts on their personal blogs. (Leave us some love and a link to your project so we can return the favor. *wink*)

- QKD will offer up a $25 stamp gift certificate for the players to compete for each month. So if people enter each week, they have 4 chances to win the monthly prize of $25.

- The contestants will post their link to their card on the Inlinkz widget here on the blog. (There will be 1 per month.)

Hello Monday

daisy collage stamp and vintage gate rubber stamp is used to make the background. thank you is from the greeting tree

daisy collage stamp, mme paper, wish ticket by tim holtz, metal dangle by 7 gypsies.

here are 2 samples from my new daisy collage stamp....I started a new day job but it is actually all night 3 -4 nights a week so i have been adjusting to new schedules so happy and thankful i remember to stop by and say hi! hope you all have a great week and remember to stamp something....happy paper crafting =0)
jeanie
ps remember to check out all the new fun stamps at QKD!

Little Miss Muffet

I usually show off the paintings that have been made into cool stamps by QKD. But my computer isn't talking to my external hard drive and my live in computer support system has taken the day off to spend with our daughter. Since my entire week has been focused on this one painting I thought I would share it instead.
This painting is called Along Came A Spider. I decided to interpret Miss Muffet as a strong female character who decides to blow the spider away instead of being scared off.