It's Me, KP

Still Here

I am still alive.

An insane 2 week apartment search, crazy moving day, no internet connection (i've just paid $8 to use the internet at starbucks here uggggh), and friends in town have left me with no time online lately.  However, I now l ive in an amazing apartment on the Upper West Side in Manhattan... and it's really a dream come true for me.  I am happy happy happy.

So a few things to share... first I am guesting over at Inspired Blueprints.  It was fun doing someone else's sketch for a change! :)  You can heck out what the team did here and here's my layout...

And one I made to submit...

I also realized I never posted my layouts from the last two weeks of my Fun with Type class :(  These were some of my favorite layouts so I still wanted to share here.  This is Week Three - making word art with stamps...

And this is Week Four - using up those extra letter stickers...

I recently had dinner again at BOKA (where those photos were taken in the twenty-seven layout) and it still remains one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago.  I definitely, definitely recommend it if you're in town and looking to put on a pretty dress and go out for a good dinner.

One more thing... I was THRILLED to be asked to teach at Scrap Fever in London next year!

So excited!!!  Registration info can be found here.  Um, did I mention I'm excited?! ;)

I've got a nice vacation to Miami coming up this week (fingers crossed for some-any-a-little-bit-of sunshine) and will have more to share when I return.  Have a great weekend everyone!

The 27 Things

The year isn't over but I thought it would be fun to do a post about the progress on my 27 things list.  This is a layout I did back in January for the 2ps Garden.  I've got a few things to cross of the list :)

1. Visit a state I've never been to - no, but going to Spain for the first time in Nov.  Does that count?
2. Watch five black & white films - 2 down
3. Go to the ballet
4. Take a photography class
5. Scan & print my grandmother's photos
6. Design my own website + portfolio
7. Use my passport - next month
8. Reach a happy weight - getting there
9. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
10. Understand where I work + the market - gah.  no.
11. Read three classic Russian novels
12. Remember all of my BFF's birthdays - two down, one to go
13. Take the behind-the-scenes tour at Wrigley Field - not going to happen, I'm afraid
14. Bake my own buttercream cupcakes
15. Learn how to use chopsticks
16. Make three new girlfriends
17. Do something that scares me - this one can be crossed off many times
18. Donate money every month
19. Make a move
20. Enjoy the tasting menu at Alinea - not yet.  I did get to go to Bonsoiree in Chicago, which might be as close as I get this year.
21. Take an architectural boat tour
22. Make a mixed CD each month
23. Visit Chelsea Piers
24. Go to four concerts
25. Read two books a month - failing.
26. Go to the top of the Sears Tower
27. Attend three charity events

Many things to accomplish in the next two months!  Yikes.

HMP & GP with KP in NYC

Addicted to making Flip videos now :)  This one is from last weekend when my best friend Heather and her hubby were in town.  Enjoy!

ETA: song is a live version of "Forevermore" by Katie Herzig. I use a Flip Mino for video and iMovie that came with my computer to edit :) Coat in the photos on MG's blog is from J.Crew last year. Hope that helps!

Fun with Type Week Two

I'm taking a break from NYC in a very chilly Chicago this week.  Despite the cold, I'm very happy to be here :)

Wanted to let you know that Week Two of my Fun with Type class is up at 2ps today.  Click here for this week's lesson.

This week is about using fonts to create fun word art and combining with your QK Silhouette for layouts.  I love fonts.  That's probably no surprise, right?

Have a good week, everyone!

Fun with Type Week One

Monday was the start of my new free class at 2ps called "Fun with Type" - you can find the first lesson right here.  If you know me, you know that I love fonts and text and everything typography. 

Here's a little peek at the first layout.  Hope you'll come check it out :)

The theme for this months Garden is also typography.  Love it.  Here's one of my layouts...

I played around with a bunch of fonts in Illustrator to create my journaling block.  It tells the story of the corner of Columbus and 79th... where Sarah and I spotted Matt Dillon and Michael Richards aka Kramer all within some very silly seconds :)

Also, remember this layout I did for the Garden with the 27 things I wanted to do my 27th year?

I am slowly but surely crossing things off this list :)  Will try to post an update on my progress very soon!

Super-Fast with 4x6 Photos

Very excited to find Creating Keepsakes new Super-Fast with 4x6 Photos at Barnes & Noble last week... I did the layout that is on the cover :)

Can I just say that "super-fast" is my new mantra these days ;)  I've been wanting to just zip through getting layouts scrapped lately and this is the PERFECT tool. 

I was lucky to contribute a lot of layouts to this special issue and here is one of my faves...

You can purchase the issue on the CK website right here or pick it up at B&N like I did :)  Hope you enjoy!

September Super Sketches

My September Super Sketches class went up this morning at 2ps :)  And it's Kelly Kelly Kelly month... I have my awesome friends Kelly Noel and Kelly Goree joining me.  Both Kelly's have been good friends to me for many years now... I love my Kelly's and their layouts are incredible!!!

Here's my layout this month.  It was a hard one for me to make because I wanted it to be REALLY good ;)  I wanted the page to do justice to the important feelings I was trying to get down on the page. 

The past few months have been quite challenging for me and have made me realize that I have the most incredible group of six women who love me and will support me through anything.  I need these six to get by in life :)  This is Sarah & Chloe, who I have been lucky to share a city with twice and will meet me for late night movies, trips to B&N, and pretty much food anytime.  Susan, who puts up with my insane emails + texts every single day and gets to hear the exciting details of my life like "I had a corndog for lunch."  And my three best friends from high school... Erin, Heather, and Kellie.  They live so far away but are right there in a second when I need them.  Yes, I am very lucky.

Hope you'll check out the sketch this month and play along!  Have a good weekend everyone :)

Monday.

I'm back from a wonderful trip to Scrapfest.  I taught 10 classes over the three days and all of my students were awesome!  We also did a Crop Around Town Saturday night and it was fun to hang out with all the ladies for a while.  Thank you to all of you who came to my classes!  My Sunday afternoon classes got to see a lot of extra silliness... you guys were so fabulous :)

I am very lucky to get to travel and teach and meet so many great people.  I love my job.

And thanks for all the sweet comments about the Chicago video.  I'm addicted now, so more videos to come!  Answers to questions...

Song: "Folding Chair" by Regina Spektor
Camera: Flip Mino that was a refub purchased from Woot
Editing Program: iMovie v.7.1.2

Years ago I went to school for video/broadcasting and I have to say that iMovie does a really great job... very user friendly!

A couple of things to share - a Sprinkles layout from the mid-month Garden...

I save so much memoribilia that it was fun to actually pull some out of it to use on layouts :)  And a little Cubs mini made using a metro card and my ticket...

I LOOOOOVE that new Jenni Bowlin... have used it on so many projects already.

One more thing... please check out Cards for Kate if you have a moment.  The amazing Jen McGuire has put together a card drive for a great little girl and I will definitely be putting together a card to send :)

Have a great week, everyone!

I Love You, Chicago

The majority of September has been spent on the go... a long trip to Chicago and Michigan have kept me busy.  I put together my FIRST EVER video using my lovely new Flip video camera.  Clearly I have a lot to learn about zooming & shaking this little baby, but I hope you enjoy...

I Should Just Call This the Susan Post

Two things that just went up to share tonight.  When I went to resize layouts for this blog post and realized they both have to do with one of my besties, Susan :)  The first layout is one that I did for the 2ps gallery this month, with "found objects" being the theme this month.  Love this theme because I save + collect so much memorabilia! 

For this layout I ripped out a page from the J.Crew catalog (don't worry I always get two ;)) beause I loved the layered colors of the sweaters.  I ended up covering up my favorite part but still lots of pretty colors showing.

The photos are from CHA... we were able to jump in a photobooth there.  Journaling is about how even though we chat every single day it's just so much better to see her "in living color" :)

Susan layout #2 is a scraplift of her awesome page up at Fiskars for summer school.  She did this great one using fabric scraps and I tried the technique for the "What I Learned in Summer School" article.  Her layout was so gorgeous I knew that I had to give it a try...

The photos are of my California BFF, Kellie + her boyfriend of nine years :)  I did an impromptu photoshoot in front of their Santa Monica apt.  Here is my fave...