Hi everyone! I am back again to show you some more of this little guy “Roger” from “Wishes and Kind Thoughts” . I had no idea he had a name until yesterday when Lisa told me! I thought I would bring in a more masculine feel this time using Roger just so you can see the versatility of the image. I love making masculine cards. They don’t scare me one bit.  If you wanted to make this even more masculine, just ditch the scalloped border and use a thin piece of kraft cardstock to break up the black and patterned paper.

I also took it easy on the coloring of him as well. Just one copic color to keep it monochromatic and not too busy. An easy and fast way to color when you are in a pinch. Going to keep it kind of short tonight, girls. I am wiped out from a really long day of teaching! I have seen what some of the other girls have done and they are going to blow you away with their projects. Holy cow! Take a look, and don’t forget to stop by the Avocado Arts Blog!!

Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto

“Wishes and Kind Thoughts” has got to be one of my favorite Avocado Arts kits to date! If you haven’t subscribed to get these stamps THIS is the time! Believe me, I have seen the upcoming line-up and the images are fantastic! Just SO.MUCH.FUN. I really wanted to brighten things up a bit and bring in some sunshiny colors, so I did just that! Making a little display by using Spellbinders dies was just the right thing to showcase this nerdy owly dude. By placing him front and center his umbrella now looks so big over top of him. He looks like he has to handle too much. I love it.

I decided to cut up the sentiment and be a little more playful this time around. This is a perfect card for a girlfriend who may not be feeling well.

I went old school and to play on the little polkas on the coat and umbrella, I ran my layers through the swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder. A nice old standby. Everybody is so busy with CHA and all, but if you are busy and haven’t been swept up on a plane to the hottest craft expo ever, why don’t you grab a cuppa and take a look at the other fabulous projects by the Pit Crew! Also, don’t forget to check out the Avocado Arts Blog!!

The Fabby Pit Crew Girls who are showing their wares:

Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto

Hey guys! This month’s sneak peek is so cool, because we have all of the new DT members showing there AMAZING projects with us now! These girls SERIOUSLY ROCK! I am not even kidding when I say that this is the nicest group of girls in the industry. I am really fortunate to be here working for a really, really nice company. Go, Avocado Arts! Oh, and PLEASE visit the website. There are streaming pictures of the projects now under each stamp set. How brilliant is that?

My project today shows a little bit from last month’s set “Sweet Treat Sweetie” (the sentiment) and THIS coming month’s set, “Wishes and Kind Thoughts”…

Oh…and this little umbrella? This isn’t what you think it is. I mean, it is an umbrella here on this card, but it really isn’t in real life on the stamp. Hmmm…maybe if you poke around the other girl’s blogs you can catch a glimpse of what I did here…

So…I encourage you girls out there who are in the mood for some eye candy to visit the other DT’s blogs today. Yup. I know you all need to be visually stimulated! lol!

• Avocado Arts Blog
  AJ Otto
  Latisha Yoast
  Julia Stainton
  Becky Oehlers
• Emily Branch
• Kelley Eubanks
• Emily Leiphart
• Savannah O’Gwynn

So this has been a fun ride with Avocado Arts in 2011. Our growing place in the stamping community has been really fun and nice to be a part of. I am bringing you a fun and easy way of coloring up your black cardstock today. My daughter loves all things 80′s and she will be turning 14 on the 6th, so she inspired this project.

Just start out with black cardstock and stamp and emboss your images with white embossing powder. It has to be WHITE not CLEAR!

Heat set and emboss your white, and wait a couple of seconds to let it dry completely. Then color the bits you want colorful with Copic markers. Easy enough, and you can have a great time. Especially with the sentiments!

This last card is the one Emma claimed for her own card this year. I knew she would go for the bold pink one! Thanks for looking at my last share with the “Sweet Treat Sweetie” stamp set! This has been a fun one! Go check out what the other girls have in store for you today, and hop on over to the Avocado Arts Blog as well- There is a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS!

Avocado Arts, Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto

Howdy everyone! Here is my new little share for this month’s Avocado Arts Kit “Sweet Treat Sweetie” I am not too happy with how these pictures came out, because in real life this card isn’t all washed out looking. I did use some fun techniques on this card, so if you can see through hte fact that these aren’t my normal picture taking quality, we will do well today.

First I stamped the x and o background stamp onto some fun LilyBee patterned paper. I just love that company. Maybe I should try and work for them. lol. I then stamped the jar image onto my rustic cardstock and cut out the patterned paper and adhered it. I then stamp the jar image again onto another piece of rustic card stock and cut a little banner from the middle of it adding little cut out tags on the end. I stamped the sentiment (you can do this before you cut it 0ut) and adhered the whole thing over top of the jar, making sure the edges lines up properly. Makes it look like a fun banner across it.

I have the plague. The sickness that won’t die, so that is why my pics aren’t the best today. I just had a rough day of not feeling too well boo hiss. But I DO have to tell you that there has been some CRAZY beautiful projects going on this time around, so go check ‘em out!

Avocado Arts, Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto

The vintage look usually isn’t my go-to, but I just wanted to do something softer. This blog has seen too much red and pink lately. I had fun making this sweet glassine bag envelope that holds a tea bag. Such a nice way to give a quick little gift. Nothing new and impressive here, but I just really like how comforting this card looks.

I had a fun time with the twine on this card as well. I love the way twine makes a card feel. Home made and from the heart.

Go check out what the other Pit Crew Girls have in store for you today!

Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton , Latisha Yoast

Here is another project using “Brrr…and the Nerdy Snow Peeps!”. This time I wanted to show you something you could mass produce quickly for gifts. Just a simple cocoa and marshmallow combo, but this is so easy to do en masse when needed for Sunday School gifts or teacher gifts.

The snowman easily props up with  a folded piece of paper behind him.  No problem there. Easy to mass produce the bows and then adhere with a glue dot. The part that takes the longest is paper piecing the snowman, but if you have kids big enough, that could just be a small assembly line of helpers. Easy peasy!

Just some simple Nestability dies for the front and voila! You are done!

Go check out the other girls and the Avocado Arts Blog for more Brrr…and the Nerdy Snow Peeps inspiration!

Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto

Hey guys!  I am here to share another project using “Brrr…and the Nerdy Snow Peeps” out this month from Avocado Arts! I had a great time making this card. My new fun technique this time was embellishing simply!  I first started out with some patterned paper, and then stamped the small snowflake from “Brrr and the Nerdy Snow Peeps” in between my already printed polka dots.  The paper was just missing something, and this brought it all together for me.  I LOVE those snowflakes!!  There are three different sizes, and this one, like I said, is the smallest. Adore. One of my favorite holiday songs is “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” I seriously LOVE it.  So I had to make my little snowman all gentleman-like for this card, because I can hear that lovely deep  voice in my head of Leon Redbone. I love it!

Another fun technique I use is with leftover paper strips. I sew a zig zag down them, and just cut them out when I need a little extra zing to a project and have no time to sew!  This is fun AND fool-proof!  No need to be scared the stitching won’t be perfect.  Just glue the strip where you need it, and voila!  A nice cheap embellie! I hope you enjoyed my card today!  Go check out what the other Pit Crew girls have in store for you! And don’t forget about the Avocado Arts Blog!  FUN announcements happening!!!

Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto

How did it start? Well, I have always liked taking pictures, especially of people. My kids, my friends, my colleagues. I guess it started like most things start with me. You see, every year, instead of making a New Year’s resolution that I may never keep (yeah…you know…like THAT one), I promise myself that I will learn one thing new.  Not just learn one thing new like a fact, or trivia, but really take the time to MASTER one thing new.  It is a process that usually takes a year, and then longer.  I give myself the whole year to do it. It is cathartic. It is a resolution I keep, because I wouldn’t want to learn something new if I didn’t sort of like it to begin with. It is not easy.  It takes an endless amount of discipline, hours, humbleness, determination and excitement. All of which can be absolutely draining and soul-filling all at the same time.  So what started it? Well, usually, like anything else that triggers something in me, I was inspired. This time, I was inspired by a childhood friend. A friend I grew up with since Kindergarten. I friend with whom I wasn’t so close to, but we weren’t so distant either. I remembered really great times with his Dad, Mom and sisters in their backyard pool when I was around seven or eight. I remember his Dad passing away, and the sadness and loss his family felt. I remember my Dad stepping in and mentoring my friend through music and friendship. My Dad was our school’s music teacher.  He learned guitar from my Dad. I do remember that pretty vividly, because on most weeks my lesson on french horn was right after his during lunch.  These memories turned into just that. Memories. We got older and had different friend sets. I did my music thing, and he was named one of the top entrepreneurs of Philadelphia not long ago. Successful and creative in every sense of the word.  To be that successful, I thought, means that my friend was probably really creative as well.  I didn’t see too much of that while we were growing up, but I saw it one day after friending him on Facebook.

I noticed he started posting pictures from Flickr. He was doing a 365. Sure, I was familiar with the concept. Not clueless, I clicked through to his Flickr site and my jaw dropped. I was surprised. Surprised, a little in awe and now completely taken with his work. I quickly got into his space, but it felt a bit invasive. Photos do that, you know. They are very personal, and when taken well like these were, they feel alive. A steady pulse of quiet family moments. His pictures are mostly quiet. Quiet and lyrical.  Then, a really loud picture will appear. You can’t ignore it. I think that is probably what he is really like inside.  There is a humbleness yet complete refinement in his work. I was hooked.

I wanted that. Selfish? Maybe.  But I wanted to be that good.  It takes a lot of time, for sure. My photos will never look like his, because I am not him. That is the beauty of it. There is a safety in just having to be you, and now that I am older and wiser, I like that. A lot. So off I went. To learn, to play, to navigate this whole new world I knew nothing about. So after I got a little more familiar with my camera and really researched things,  I started my own 365. I then opened up a private group on Facebook for other friends who wanted to take this journey with me.  We have learned so much. My photos are now so much better than they used to be, but still have so far to go. I love my subjects. They are usually family, friends and colleagues, just like before when I just clicked some pictures, but now they are taking on a new life as I get better and better. Learning is everything. If you are not making a concerted effort to learn every day of your life, you are missing out.  I am not taking any day for granted. I think Katie has taught us all a lot about that.

So I wanted to share a couple of photos with you. Maybe you would be interested in seeing more, in learning more with me, but I know this is not a photography blog, so I am not sure how much interest you would have in taking this journey with me. Comments would be appreciated. So I work with both a Canon 7D and a Canon 50D. Here is some of my journey:

Emma:

Sophie:

On The Set of Carmen:

Our Maestro

Kids:

Some more adult clients:

So there you have it. A sample of some of my work. Hope you enjoyed this, because it is a really wonderful process to be in, and I would love to share more with you if you are enjoying it too!

I love this post today!  I have been waiting to rip into this kit for a while now!!  I am so excited to give you a sneak peek at next month’s Avocado Arts set, “Brrr…and the Nerdy Snow Peeps” (best stamp set name EVER).  So like the 15th of every month, we sneak in some images from the new set, and the set from last month.  I sneaked in a LOT of images for you in this card.  I couldn’t help it!  I also am showing you a technique I created two years ago.

I have the full tutorial on how to make this felted snow drift HERE.  It is simple, but you need to use a separate piece of cardstock for your backing and then glue the entire piece onto the card.

The only thing on here from last month’s set, Bring on the Holiday Cheer,  is the sentiment and the circle which goes around the sentiment. I love how the circle worked!  That is the circle meant for the peppermint in that set, and it perfectly fit around the “Joy” sentiment.  Then I used a 3/4 punch to punch it out. Perfect all around!

Don’t forget to check out the Avocado Arts Blog (did you see the big announcement that our team is growing?), and all of the other Pit Crew Girls and their projects today!  They are so very cool

Kimberly Crawford, Julia Stainton, Latisha Yoast and AJ Otto