It's Me, KP

Hello, New Year

I wanted to sum up my year somehow to satisfy the crazy must-document-every-single-thing part of me. So I came up with a list of thirty (figuring twenty+ten was much better than two thousand and ten) meaningful words or phrases for 2010.  I didn't let myself think about it too hard, I just typed...

Twenty Ten was my worst year and best year all in one.  Next year I wouldn't complain if those highs and lows just met in the middle and delivered me one flatline of a year.  But still with the good food, friends, and travel.  That's not too much to ask, right?

So I'm wishing you the very happiest of New Years and thank you to all who have read, commented, supported, taken a class, helped me out, and made me smile here on my blog this year.  There's so much more to come.

Who's Who

It's Reveal time!  The gallery + kits are up at Studio Calico and I hope you're ready to shop.  Santa did bring you an SC gift card right?  Since I was short on time this month, all my layouts are pretty simple but use all my favorite products from the kits.  I might have gone a little crazy this month and got three... #1 Betty Crocker, #2 Buster Brown, and #4 Dear Abby.
Super simple.  And I wish I was back on that beach right now.  I combined Who's Who with a lot of Dear Abby on this one.  I love the gorgeous pinks from Dear Abby.  The BG brad is from Buster Brown.

The first (of many, I'm sure) New Orleans layout.  We had beignets at Cafe du Monde on recommendation from lots of friends.  The little KI Pockets in Who's Who are really fun and I stuck two smaller pics in this one.  The fun papers on the bottom of the layout are from Dear Abby and I thought they worked perfectly for a NOLA page.

A few weeks ago when Amy was here, she and I had quite a day which included meeting The Pioneer Woman at a book signing.  That's a whole other blog post, but what better photos for the book stamp from Who's Who?  All of the other supplies are from Betty Crocker.  I love this add-on!  I also recommend JBS Chewing Gum or Worn Lipstick Distress Ink for pretty pink inks to match. 

A little fun with my circle punch and the stamp from Dear Abby.  I layered them together using the papers from Who's Who.

And now let's talk about stamps...
This is one from #3 Mary Jane is of my favorite sets ever... designed after I asked suggestions for it on the message board.  I have been known to act like a 5 yr old and slip out a "that's what she said" frequently, so I love that the phrase made it onto the set.  I also have an obsession with mini stamps and this little mini heart is going to get lots of use.

Happy shopping and I hope you enjoy the gallery this month! 

Let Your Heart Be Light

The Christmas card I sent this year, made with help from my twin.

Hope your holidays are filled with joy... and of course lots of delicious things to eat!
Merry Christmas.

SC January: Who's Who Sneaks

I've caught a cold + some winter blues but making my blogging comeback with some Studio Calico January Sneaks for you! This month I got three add-ons: #1 Betty Crocker, #2 Buster Brown, and #4 Dear Abby.  I couldn't resist.  And I had a lot of fun mixing them in with the Who's Who main kit... everything works really well together!

My favorite thing this month were all the alphabet stickers.  Oh and the stamps.  Of course. 

I also bought the JBS Malted Milk paint dabber and had fun playing with it.  I used it on the chip butterflies and the color matched those Maya Road rosettes perfectly.  I think a dabber addiction has started.

Also, I have a tutorial on making the paper flowers from my Napa Valley layout up on the Studio Calico Blog...
I'll show you how to turn the flowers into a fun New Years banner.  Hope you'll check it out.

Can't wait to share the full layouts next week!

Ingrid + Greg

It's funny how some things in my life this year have come full circle.

For example, the first concert that I purchased tickets to this year was Greg Laswell at Joe's Pub.  And I had really gone in hopes of seeing Ingrid Michaelson, who by now you all know that I love. 

And I was lucky enough to stalk her down meet her at that show.

So it seems so fitting that three Ingrid concerts and two more Greg concerts later, the last show I bought tickets to this year was Ingrid's Holiday Hop where both of them performed.  Along with the fabulous Ian Axel, who performed at the first concert I went to of the year, and I've coincidentally also seen three times total in 2010.  Ah, the cicle of KP's life.

This is one of the openers... the band dressed up as Edith, Edna, Ethel + husbands.  Complete with Staten Island accents. 

It was a great show and I think Chloe + I were throughly entertained by the entire evening.

This is the Greg + Ingrid duet that I adore.  I've linked it before but I took this video on my little camera... and I love listening to it.  I should add that we were standing at the very back of the room against the wall, so you can enjoy the video rest assured that nobody's view was blocked by me holding up my camera.  (That's how you do it, peeps.  Don't block the short people.)

Enjoy.

Greetings from New Orleans!

I'm in NOLA at the airport, uploading pictures and waiting to head home.  A friend and I took a quick trip down for a few days... which is all the time I need here.  I honestly have never had the desire to visit NOLA before.  Then I started traveling and traveling and traveling and it became the second to last big city (Austin I'm comin' for you!!!) in the US that I haven't been to and felt I should see. 

And I'm so glad we came.
New Orleans, I like you a lot.

The real reason I'm excited to depart is because if I stay here any longer, I am going to be one fat fatty fat girl.  The food here... amazing.  It rivals Portland as my favorite good eats trip.  Beignets.  Muffuletta.  Po-Boy.  Pralines.  Heaven.
More on NOLA to come.

Adventures with Amy

Tonight at dinner with Chloe + Amanda, we lamented a bit on being behind on blogging... so much going on to talk about but no actual time to get things posted.  So I'm taking the easy way out and going to just post a bunch of photos from when Amy was in town. Ta da! New blog post!

I love spending time with my twin.  She is just the best.

Back soon with more words and lots more photos.  Have a great week!

Hero Arts Blog Hop!

Welcome to the 2011 Hero Arts Catalog Blog Hop!  I'm so honored to be part of the hoppy-ness and am excited to share some fabulous new products from one of my favorite companies.  Hero Arts is just all around goodness... good people. good products, good inspiration.

Hero sent me some awesome new stamps to work with and I whipped up a few projects...

This set is called Friendly Flags (CL475) and is one of those sets that I could just use over and over and over again! They're so cute and make it simple to create little banners or use alone.  Down at the bottom I also used Thank You Definition (CG268) which is a great 4x6 cling.  I love those definition stamps as backgrounds.

This new set is called Sending Smiles (CL490) and is a perfect combination of old telephone icons + sentiments.  It's going to be a great one for cards but I couldn't help using them on a layout as well. 
I'm not much of a cardmaker but this set called Just Saying Hi (CL502) made it so easy!  That's exactly the kind of set that I need in my life.  Plus I love love love that beautiful font.

Hero generously sent me some other gorgeous new stamps that I ran out of time before I could use.  I'll be working with them soon and posting more projects... can't wait to play more.  I have a feeling that we're all in for such a treat with their 2011 release.

And now from here you continue on the blog hop to my friend Susan Weinroth. Remember, if you find a link that doesn't work, you can always hop back to the Hero Arts Blog for a list of direct links to all the blogs in the hop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sparty On

I think you all would agree that one of the hardest things about moving somewhere new is making friends.  Last year at this time most of my friends had moved away from NYC and I had exactly two left - my roomates. 

A girl can get lonely fast in a city of 8.4 million people.

But give me 365 days and I'll be just fine.  The past couple weeks I've found myself out nearly every night enjoying the company of my friends.  I like that I've got important people stashed and scattered throughout the city.  They mean so much to me.
This is my MSU gang... Chad, Missy, Amanda, D (who hates my camera is hiding behind Amanda), and P.  I've mentioned it before but I didn't know a single one of them until January of this year and now I can't imagine life without them.  I definitely wouldn't laugh as much, we prove that very well.

2010 certainly brought me amazing friends. 
Now if 2011 wanted to bring me an amazing guy - I wouldn't be complaining.
Until then, I have him...

Boston

I'm quite behind on blogging and going through photos but I want to start somewhere... so Boston it is!  After Thanksgiving, Chloe and I decided to take a little day trip to Boston.  I've only been there once before and pretty much only saw Fenway, so this time there was more exploring.  After a quick stop in Providence, we arrived...

We walked around Harvard and discovered that Boston is really freaking fracking cold in November.  So the rest of the trip was sightseeing Boston from the warmth of our rental car then quickly hopping out for yummy things to eat.

Since nobody warned me, let me just tell you right now my friends... there are no cupcakes at Johnny Cupcakes!!!

I don't know who Johnny is and why he has such a twisted sense of humor, but this cupcake queen was not impressed.  Luckily there is a Sweet just a few blocks away.

On our way back we made a pit stop at Target and Wal-Mart and were giddy buying things like Solo cups + butter.  We marveled at the possibility of eating at Panera and Red Robin.  And the truth of the matter is, the highlight of the trip for me was stopping for dinner to have chicken 'n biscuits at Cracker Barrel.  Because we live in a city that enjoys draining our bank accounts and sometimes happiness is only paying $2.50 for a dish of delicious hashbrown casserole.