Recovering...

Hello everyone!

Just wanted to pop on really quick to let you know that I've had surgery on my ear and will be 'out of the office'/away from the computer for a little while. Please continue emailing with your requests and questions, I will do my best to get back to you as soon as I get back to work.

Thank you for your understanding!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to pop in to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're able to spend it with people you love!

We're lucky enough to have two FABULOUS meals to attend today (one on his side, one on mine). Our Thanksgiving is always filled love, joy and laughter!

I will not be 'in the office' tomorrow and will respond to any emails next week.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Change in Terms of Service

In an effort to speed up the Design Line, I am making a change to my Terms of Service effective immediately.

When a client's turn is approaching in the Design Line, I send her an email with questions about her ideas and needs for her new design. I've noticed that lately, a lot of my time is spent waiting on a reply. I have made a change to this email (and subsequently, to my Terms of Service) that states that if I don't receive a response within three (3) business days, I will be removing the customer from the list and will move on to the next customer waiting in line.

I completely understand that life gets in the way and blog design is not a top priority - so a little "I'm not able to give you all the info you need right now, but I'm still very interested in a blog design" will do. Then, I can set that client aside and move on to the next client until she is ready.

I appreciate your understanding and hope that this will result in shorter wait times in line.

MCT Oct Stamp Release Sneak #2

Good Morning!

I usually don't share too many personal stories here - mostly because I don't think that's why you stop by - but I feel like this project needs a bit of an introduction.

My church is participating in this HUGE study called STRONG. About 65,000 people across the country will be joining with us to strengthen their relationships with God. It's not a traditional study, let me assure you! We'll be having LOTS of fun while becoming stronger Christians. Each week, we are supposed to complete 5 Challenges from a deck of cards. This week's category is Play. Here's the challenge I drew today:

Awesome, right? Well, it's just perfect that creating is one of my favorite activities to get energized! I just love the rush of creating something from scratch!

Okay... so I'll admit that I took longer than 20 minutes for this challenge. But I really love the end result!!!

Isn't this card so PLAYful? It's going to be perfect for my father-in-law's birthday next June (okay, so I'm a little ahead of the game...). 

I used the SOON-to-be-released All Around Accessories from My Creative Time, along with Wow! So Many Candles and Anyday Bingo & Crossword (also MCT). That adorable kitty is from Stamps by Judith (Frazzled Cat) and I use him ALL the time! He was actually all wrapped up in Christmas lights on my Christmas cards last year! His little eye patch is just the tiny part that gets cut out when you use the SU! Ticket Corner punch and I drew the string with a fine tip marker. He's colored with Copics to look like my kitty, Harley.

Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!

Listen up "My Creative Time" friends! We are giving all of you an opportunity to win some AWESOME prizes during Sneak Peek week with a total of "6" winners to be announced during Friday's Stamp release! All you have to do is leave a comment HERE along w/the rest on the design teams blogs for a chance! These are prizes you do NOT want to miss out on!!

 1. SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page that you did so! OR you can just tag My Creative Time in your post!

 2. Just comment on ALL of the designers' blogs EVERY DAY during Sneaky Peek week!  THAT'S ALL you have to do to qualify for the giveaways! ;)

All winners will "randomly" get chosen and Emma will announce all six winners on Friday, October 21st @ 12am PST in her video during the release & blog hop of this AMAZING new stamp collection! GOOD LUCK! Log onto to your facebook now & let start spreading word!

Thanks again for dropping by! I'll be back tomorrow morning with another Sneaky Peek!

MCT Oct Stamp Release Sneak #1

Good Morning!

I have a very special week planned here on the VK Design Company blog! Emma, from My Creative Time, has asked me to be her Guest Designer ALL week long! I'm so excited to showcase her fabulous 11th Release!

Today we're showcasing Cherish This Moment. This set will be PERFECT for large sentiments on cards and great for scrapbooking, too!

I have been LOVING the Autumn leaves that are all around here in Michigan and felt inspired to pay homage to them with my card today.

I used the Lovely As A Tree SU! set along with the "Life is beautiful" sentiment from Emma's Cherish This Moment. The background wood grain pattern is Papetrey Ink's Background Basics: Woodgrain stamped in VersaMark.

I colored the tree leaves with my Copics. Not a lot of technique with that - just some 'blobs' of color that I (somewhat) blended together! And I love paper piercing around the edges of layers to give a little extra oomph!

Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!

Listen up "My Creative Time" friends! We are giving all of you an opportunity to win some AWESOME prizes during Sneak Peek week with a total of "6" winners to be announced during Friday's Stamp release! All you have to do is leave a comment HERE along w/the rest on the design teams blogs for a chance! These are prizes you do NOT want to miss out on!!

 1. SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page that you did so! OR you can just tag My Creative Time in your post!

 2. Just comment on ALL of the designers' blogs EVERY DAY during Sneaky Peek week!  THAT'S ALL you have to do to qualify for the giveaways! ;)

All winners will "randomly" get chosen and Emma will announce all six winners on Friday, October 21st @ 12am PST in her video during the release & blog hop of this AMAZING new stamp collection! GOOD LUCK! Log onto to your facebook now & let start spreading word!

Thanks for stopping  by today and be sure to come back tomorrow for more Sneaky Peeks!

Guest Designing for My Creative Time

Good Morning!

Today I have a very special project to share with you! Emma, from My Creative Time has invited my Mom and me to be Guest Designers on her blog today. 

My project was inspired by Miss Emma herself. Over the last (almost) 2 years, I have had the absolute privilege to get to know Emma personally (we even shared a room last year at CHA Chicago). Not only is she a great customer, but more importantly, she has become a dear friend of mine. To thank her for her friendship, I created this super cute card for her (shhh... she doesn't know it's in the mail on its way to her yet!).

The color combo of my card was based on the ribbon peeking out of the right side. Originally, I intended for the ribbon to be tied across the front of the card, but after getting those ADORABLE penguins on there, I just didn't have any room for it! I couldn't stand the thought of leaving it off because it was the starting point of my card, so I snuck it in at the last minute!

For the sentiment, I used Just A Little Note To Say and it fit PERFECTLY in the banner from My One And Only. To help it flow with the curvy-ness (is that a word? I think I just made that up!) of the banner, I curved the sentiment stamp a bit when I stuck it to my acrylic block. Voila!

I stamped the sentiment again in red ink and cut out "Sweet" to pop up on top (I used LOTS of pop dots. I'm kind of an addict). I then used Crystal Stickles to make it sparkly. The next day, I noticed that the Stickles seemed to 'bleach' the word. Never seen that happen before, but thought it looked kind of neat.

The snow is Liquid Applique by Marvy Uchida. It comes in a little pen-like tube. You fill in the area you want to be puffy and heat it up with your embossing gun. In seconds, it puffs up and is great for fur, snow and latte foam! Here's a close-up of my snowy wonderland:

Aren't those penguins ADORABLE?!?!?! They're cute in the package, but MAN ARE THEY CUTE in real life! I couldn't believe how much I loved them when I cut them out using my Big Shot. They come from a stamp and die set by The Scrapping Cottage (Cottage Cutz) and Peachy Keen Stamps. LOVE!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and a BIG THANKS to Emma for inviting me to be a Guest Designer on her blog today! Be sure to hop over to my Mom's blog to see the adorable card she created!

New Blog Designs to Share

Well, it sure has been a crazy week around here! Now that all the blogs are fixed (thanks, Google/Blogger!), we can all breathe a little easier! I thought I'd take a little moment to share some new designs.

Taylord Concepts
Erika Taylor knows just how to stretch my creativity! Her style is very different than my usual designs, but I always find it so fun to try something new. This is the second design I've created for Taylor (I created her previous design back in August 2009!!!) and it's even MORE out of my comfort zone than the first one!

Pretty cool, huh? It's even better in person! Click here to visit Erika's blog and be ready for an 'eye-rolling' surprise!

Confiseries Papier {Paper Confections}
FranCine really loved the look of my Diary Pre-made blog design, but needed just a few tweaks. No problem! Just a few color, font and text changes turned this:

Into this:

FranCine's new design is sophisticated without being too stuffy and it's really easy on the eyes. You can visit her blog here.

Two Stampin' Sisters
Pam and Nancy wanted a cute design for their shared blog without it being over-the-top cutesy. They picked out some stock characters and I edited them to better suit the ladies. We used bright colors to keep the design cheery and fun

Be sure to check out the design on Pam and Nancy's BRAND NEW BLOG here!