KParker Design

Here is the update to the post from the other day. I have given some of the sandwich bags out that I already made so that my friends can test them out. Their feedback, combined with Brodie's (the 6yr old) is very encouraging so I made several more and listed them at my Etsy site.

Etsy Buy Handmade parker313

Here are the kit and paper pack that I made for the ScrapMatters Design Star competition. I only got to do Round 1 officially but made the paper pack for fun. If people are interested, I would be happy to go ahead and do the coordinating element pack that I would have done if my parents hadn't been in town during Round 3 (excuses, excuses!).

These are both free, I'd love some comments or feedback though!

Mint Mocha:

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Hang 10:

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Oh boy, I slacked off again. I said I wasn't going to do that this time!! It's my mom's fault

My mom found this cool project in....I think it was Cloth Paper Scissors called Fickle Flowers. It's fabric covered wire flowers and so we had to give it a test run to see if she wanted to offer the class at church. They turned out cute!



Then, on a message board I post on, someone the other day asked about reusable, cloth sandwich bags. Today, a friend said she saw them and thought "Oh, I bet Kristin could make those" so I had to give it a shot. Those had a nylon liner which I think might be better than the 100% cotton fabric. I didn't have any nylon and figured I'd better at least TRY them before running out and buying more stuff. I'm sure Rodney would appreciate that!

I tried a few different sizes, using a traditional sandwich baggie as a model. It took a few tries to get construction to what I wanted but I am happy with them. Another friend thought they looked cool so I am going to get some Velcro to try and make some that are envelope style with a velcro closure. I might see if I can get some nylon at the same time.

Here's what I came up with...


As if that wasn't enough to keep me busy, I was also working on the apprentice designer competition over at ScrapMatters and have a few freebies I can post. I didn't make the cut, but that's OK. I have one mini kit and one paper pack that I will post. I kept meaning to make an element pack to go with my paper pack but haven't gotten to it. So, I might do that too... That post will probably be tomorrow.

I got another great kit from Connie Prince/DigiDiva Designs to play with! This one is called Mr Roboto and now I have Domo Arigato Mr Roboto stuck in my head!!!

Here are the layouts I made with this adorable kit:

OK, so I stink. I totally forgot to take pictures of the heart crayons we made! We had so much fun making them though. It's a good project for their ages b/c even though they have different ability levels, there was still something they could do. Mason, 3.5, peeled crayons and then put the crayon pieces in the heart tin. Then, when we were labeling the toppers, he had his class list and we worked on name recognition by having him "read" me the names and spell them for me. Brodie (just shy of 6) was better at peeling crayons, more interested in actually filling the heart tins and wrote the names out by himself.

The crayons made a bit of a mess in the oven and on the counter if I wasn't super careful and sloshed them a little but it was easily cleaned up.

YAY for easy and inexpensive projects. Here's the cost breakdown:
2 heart tins - $6.99 each (can be reused)
4 sheets paper at $.39 ea
1 bag of treat bags - $2.99

I already had the stapler and even the colored staples from my scrapbooking stuff. We also already had the crayons (and still have loads more!). This might be good for Christmas presents too...or birthday party favors.

Connie Prince/DigiDiva Designs has a super cool new kit called Desperately Seeking Spring. This kit was so much fun to work with - lots of fun, fresh colors, great embellishments and papers and a cool alpha. It was perfect for this layout from April 2007 when we took the kids and Molly down to Westmoreland Park when we were in KY visiting.

Valentine's Day is coming. With Brodie being in Kindergarten, I know that my time to get him to take cool, homemade Valentine's to his friends is running out. I am sure that soon he will insist on the Scooby Doo or SpongeBob valentines. So, I am enjoying making Valentine's with them while I can! This year, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Last year, we did "homemade" cards that really just ended up with a cluster of glitter heart stickers in one little corner and the rest of the cards were blank. Good idea, poor execution.

This year, I've had a million ideas come in and out of my head but none of them have stuck. After the ordeal that the Christmas presents turned out to be I want to make sure and pick something that THEY can do, not me!

I think I have found it! I think we are going to make heart shaped crayons and package them up. Won't that be cute?!

Crazedparent blogged about the heart crayons she made with her son last year. Great instructions and pictures - both for making the crayons and for the packaging! I think these could be fun. After I drop Mason off at school this morning, I think I am going to hit Michael's and stock up on some stuff. We have PLENTY of crayons, and lots of little crayon bits that no one wants to use but I just haven't thrown away so this will be perfect!

I'll post again with pictures and reviews of how it went.

Wow. I did it! I got ALL of my digital scrapbooking layouts uploaded to my Gallery! I tried to sort them out by what made sense to me. The older layouts are anything from 2008 or before - in Jan '09, my mom got me started on the Amazing Digital Scrapbooking Race 4 and I've gotten re-energized about digital scrapbooking and have started posting at a few different online forums.

In other cool news, I am now a part of the Creative Team for Connie Prince/Digi Diva Designs! I'm really excited about that.

I am excited I've got this blog going; I liked my old one and was disappointed I couldn't get back into it! I also like the Coppermine gallery I'm using (free plug in if you've got GoDaddy Linux Hosting, as is this Serendipity Blog add on) because it was really easy to upload and describe the pictures and then also to sort them out how I wanted.

Well, my old blog had issues. It couldn't remember my password and the link contained in the auto generated "Forgot My Password" emails were never valid. Great, so I had to scrap that and started again. I am in big time digital scrapbooking mode right now and hope to get a bunch of my layouts uploaded soon.