Crafty in Kansas City - First Friday at West Bottoms

One of the great things about moving so often (thanks Army) is that Don and I never run out of places to explore. Imagine my absolute joy this weekend when we discovered a monthly shopping bonanza that celebrates handcrafts and artisans of every kind. If you live anywhere near the Kansas City area you MUST check out First Fridays in West Bottoms. First Fridays is a community of antique/reclaimed/artisan shops that are only open one weekend a month in the West Bottoms District in Kansas City.

I scored a HUGE collection of handcrafted Christmas items (all 50% off - woohoo!), some hand-dyed ribbon, and I love owls - so this little wooden Valentine called my name. We found an INCREDIBLE table made out of one giant slab of wood (but did not buy it - because it was over 12 feet long. Did I mention it is one piece of wood? And we are curently living in an apartment?) and Don, who is a military collectibles buff, has his eye on a French "support the troops" poster from WWII. I have a feeling if it is still there when we go back next month it will come home with us!

We all know how important it is to support local businesses, and crafters more than most understand the importance of supporting artisans who pour their heart and soul in to their creations. You will find those people here - and probably bring home a few treasures in the process. Just stay away from the french poster and we'll all be fine! :)

(photos above by me - photos below from Pinterest)

 

PS - if you love food like the Kingstons love food, after you are done in West Bottoms hop in the car for a short drive to the Kansas City River Market.  This community is an international celebration of all things food.  Not only does this neighborhood house dozens of ethnic restaurants and African, Italian, Mediterranean and Asian groceries, it also has one of the most exciting Farmer's Markets I've been to in a while, including an open-air spice market.  Heaven I tell you!  Heaven!  Hope to see you there!

Introducing Xyron's NEW Design Team Members - and Day 2 of Giveaways!

Last week we announced six new Xyron Design Team members - and today we want to introduce them to you!  We are SO excited to have some fresh new faces...leave them a comment here on the blog (and check out their personal blogs) and one lucky winner will receive paper packs from DCWV and Colorbok, and a Mega Runner and 1.5" create-a-sticker from Xyron!  I'll announce the winner tomorrow morning on my Facebook page!

name: Tina McDonald
lives in: New Brunswick, Canada 
blog: www.tinamcd-mysanity.blogspot.com
why we love her: Her tutorials are FANTASTIC and she uses a variety of different techniques on each project.
a little bit about her: I am 35 years old and live with my hubby of 12 years and our 5 beautiful children! Life is busy but exciting!!  Scrapping is my release from every day reality! I've been scrapping for about 8 years. I draw my inspiration from life around me!! Everything from the looks on my children's faces, to their clothes, to music we listen to and emotions in our daily life! My style is hard to pinpoint... but is kind of romantic, often simple, and slightly shabby by times. I love layering, B&W photo's and journaling strips!! I'm a Layout gal...  I love the photo's and the journaling... this is what it's all about for me! :) That is they WHY behind doing what I do! I have also grown to love creating cards and off the page style projects. I've had the honor of being on several fabulous Design Team's. I am presently designing for Spellbinders Paper Arts and WOW Embossing Powder US. I have had the honor of being published in several great magazines and books! (Scrapbook Trends, Canadian Scrapbooker, Summerset Memories, Create: Family, Scrapbooking and Beyond, Crafts N'Things and Scrapbook and Cards Today and more). I am so excited to be embarking on this new journey with Xyron! I look forward to inspiring you all and being inspired in return!

layout by Tina McDonald

name: Linda Abadie
lives in: Fairfax, Virginia
blog: http://lindaabadie.com
why we love her: We've been wanting to broaden our horizons in to the world of mixed media art, and Linda was the PERFECT fit.
a little bit about her: I am a Registered Nurse during the day and an avid papercrafter, who love painting and mixed media art. I was introduced to crafting at a very young age. I just love being creative and trying new techniques. Creating art has become therapy for me. It brings me happiness and helps me stay positive in life. I have adored Xyron products since I first discovered it and I am so thrilled to be a part of the team. I am excited to start this creative journey and share my creations with you.

layout by Linda Abadie

name: Van Nguyen 
lives in: Today - Rhode Island.  Tomorrow - San Diego!
blog: http://likethecar.blogspot.com
why we love her: Her clean and colorful projects, her photography, and we thought her Project 100 idea was genius! 
a little bit about her: I started scrapbooking right at the end of my maternity leave in mid 2010 with my amazingly strong-willed yet sweet daughter, Charlotte.  While I had slowly collected crafting things since I was a little girl (i.e. stickers, stamps, pretty paper), my desire to document her life really pushed me to pursue the hobby a bit more seriously.  It didn't take long before I acquired an extensive collection of supplies to satiate my scrappy appetite.  After I returned to work as a big firm attorney, I found creative refuge in scrapbooking.  Scrapbooking also gave me an outlet to write my family history - both the major and mundane events in life.  The preservation of history - this was a topic I studied as a student of public history in both college and graduate school.  Who knew that my academic studies would one day help mold how I scrapbooked?!  :)


I was born and raised in San Diego in a traditional Vietnamese home.  After high school, I left the mild southern California sunshine and bounced around the world - from Connecticut to Wisconsin, Hanoi to Melbourne.  I eventually found myself back in California for law school.  During law school, I married my high school sweetheart and best friend.  After a year of long-distance marriage, we finally found ourselves back home in San Diego.  This past September, with military orders in hand, I quit my big firm job and we moved our family of three to Rhode Island.  For the past seven months, I fully immersed myself in scrapping, crafting, and cooking as much as my daughter lets me.  In mid-May, my daughter and I will move back home to San Diego while my husband continues his military training and then deployment elsewhere.  

layout by Van Nguyen

name: Sharon Callis
lives in: Ardee, Co Louth, Ireland
blog: http://www.sharoncalliscrafts.blogspot.com
why we love her: Sharon could quite possibly be the Queen of the Xyron Creatopia.  Her 3-d cards completely blew us away...just look at the rest of the photos of the cake card you see below.
a little bit about her: I am 37 years old and I live in Ireland with my husband Kieran and my three children. I have been crafting for over twenty five years since high school. I started cardmaking ten years ago and I love love love it. My other passions are needlework, dollshouses, home furnishings, painting, drawing, 3d paper art and model making. I spend a lot of time designing, sketching layouts and drawing.  Last year I was crowned Cardmaking and Papercraft/ Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine Cardmaker of the Year 2011. I believe that using Xyron Adhesive products played a major part in me winning the title.  I used Xyron Adhesive products in creating all my entries. My work has been published in Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine, Papercraft Essentails, Creative Cardmaking and on Xyron facebook. I am beyond thrilled to be joining the Xyron Design team and I cannot wait to share my projects with you. 

card by Sharon Callis

name: Christina Heeren 
lives in: Des Moines, IA
blog: http://christinaheeren.blogspot.com/
why we love her: Christina has the ability to turn every day items in to creative, fabulous projects.  Her home decor ideas make us happy!
a little bit about her: I have been married to my wonderful and supportive husband, Doug, for 18 years. I have been blessed with four children who keep me inspired and on my toes! I started papercrafting over 14 years ago when my oldest son was born.  I love to create mini albums, scrapbook pages, cards, 3D projects, and more. When I'm not playing with paper I love to hang out with my family, volunteer at my children's schools, and work on my photography skills. I am very excited to be part of the team and can't wait to share my projects with you.

projects by Christina Heeren

name: Linda Neff
lives in: Howell, MI
blog: http://linda-neff.com/
why we love her: Her use of different mediums and techniques made us swoon, and her love of fabric made her the perfect choice as we expand in to the world of fabric crafting with our Creatopia!
a little bit about her: I discovered through my first attempt at scrapbooking I could create art – my way. With rubber stamps, inks, paints, paper, fabric and other mediums, I create a soft, vintage look that is sometimes natural and sometimes a bit more romantic, but always evolving. I enjoy making mini albums, scrapbook pages and wall art to capture my little scrapped treasures.


The mother of three adult children, I live with my retired husband in Michigan and spend my time designing and teaching classes. I am Ranger certified and currently am a Design Team member for Art Glitter, Globecraft Memories and now Xyron. I am always on the lookout for new techniques. I encourage others to dive head-first into the art of papercrafting, whether it be scrapbooking, stamping or altered art.

projects by Linda Neff

These fantastic ladies join our current fabulous Design Team members:

Jessica Barnett

http://www.sunnyside-updesigns.com/

Ann Corbiere-Scott

http://www.anncorbierescott.typepad.com/

Stacy Rodriquez

http://stacy-scrappinqueen.blogspot.com/

Christina Klauer

http://ckmom78.blogspot.com/

Angela Ploegman

http://www.angelaploegman.typepad.com/

Tammy Caudell

http://www.fromtheheartoftammy.blogspot.com/

Kay Brown

http://www.scrapbook.com/myplace/index.php?mod=galleries&u=463879&m=view&id=3592641&type=-1&start=1&page=1

We can't wait to see what they create together - hope you'll join us for the inspiration!

PS - Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win!

For the Love of Lima - a Four Legged Valentine Surprise

The Kingstons are not big on Valentine's Day.  For some reason it has just never been something we celebrate - maybe because our anniversary is two days later (it will be 10 years on the 16th!), maybe because we normally aren't together, maybe because we do a pretty good job of loving and appreciating each other the other 364 days out of the year...but Hallmark is not making a fortune off of Beth and Don - that is for sure.

This year, however - I came across the perfect Valentine's Day gift.

Right before Thanksgiving Don and I had to say goodbye to Lima - our 12-year old retriever/spaniel mix who was an incredible joy in our lives.  She was Don's first pet and my constant companion - she comforted me after 9/11 when Don was gone and I was thousands of miles away from home, let me cry in to her soft black fur through nine deployments, was the perfect travel companion as we moved from Hawaii to Georgia to Alaska and back again, and loved the hundreds of people who have come through our home over the years. Lima was our sweet girl and we were devastated.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was in New Orleans and wandered in to the Dutch Alley Artist Co-Op - which for those of us crafty folks is a glorious, inspiring, creative space that is a must visit if you are ever down that way.  One of the artists featured there - Kelly Magee - creates animal paintings that immediately capture your eye with her mix of colors and her ability to capture the "personality" of her subjects. There was a little sign on the wall that said she did custom work - and Lima immediately came to mind.  I took her card but - to be honest - figured I'd email her and she'd say she charged a bajillion dollars for a painting or it would take six months to finish and that would be the end of it.

Boy was I wrong.  Not only were her prices AMAZING, she was as kind as she could possibly be, excited about doing the painting, and I didn't even have to ask about getting it in time for Valentine's Day - she offered.  All I had to do was send her a photo, choose my background color, and sit back and wait for one of the most meaningful gifts Don and I have ever received.  I gave it to Don last night - and through our tears we remembered how lucky we were to have Lima in our lives, and now we have a visual, tangible memory of her that we can take with us wherever we go.

Kelly - thank you doesn't even come close. I hope this story brings you a little more business and a little more joy - you have an incredible talent.

Lima, our sweet precious girl - thank you for a lifetime of beach-walking, crab-chasing, tennis ball-loving, snowball-eating, bed-snuggling memories. And thank you for giving us one more night to tell you how much we loved you.