P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Magazine Monday and the blogiversary of Paper Crafts Connection! Last Wednesday, February 2, marked our official second anniversary. We were still in our post-CHA haze, so we decided to postpone the celebration until today – so that I could coherently walk down memory lane and introduce some fun additions to this little blog.

First of all, what do you think of our updated banner (courtesy of The Lone Design Man)? I really like the pretty blue background…perfect for winter and a new year of possibilities. Second, we have new headshots…and they’re in color! Each of us donned a different color feather boa and had the fun task of trying to strike an interesting pose (or several!) with this playful prop.

In addition to our individual headshots (color and black ‘n white), we took a new team photo. It’s been added to the “About Us” page on the blog. You’ll also find a link to our web site, where you can read the bios of each Paper Crafts team member (aren’t you just dying to know what makes Matt tick?).

The Paper Crafts Team, 2011

But probably the biggest addition is we’ve added a Designer Blog Roll page. Now you can find all your favorite designers’ blogs in one place…right here! We’ve created alphabetized sub-groups, so now it’s easier than ever to keep up with the Who’s Who of the paper crafting world. In addition to featuring our World Card Making Day, Stamping Royalty and Gallery Idol winners, we’ll also update the blog roll with our monthly gallery challenge winners (next week we post the names from our January Gallery Challenge and the week after, the winners of our Color Inspiration Challenge #1).

Now for the memory lane part… after two years, there’s been 532 posts, which collectively contain 67,775 comments! Too many to individually mention, but I went through our archives and pulled my favorites. In true Letterman style, I bring you PK’s Top Ten Paper Crafts Connection Blog Posts of 2010:

1. Freebie Friday – Color Inspiration for Card Makers Blog Hop – Jan. 14, 2011 (Technically this blog hop was in 2011, but it definitely deserves a mention. 1,047 comments, 4,700 page views, 10 amazing designers who all did extraordinary things with one gorgeous color combination.)

2. Ghosts of Halloween Past – Oct. 28, 2010 (So you know we love to celebrate holidays around the office, right? In this post, I share pictures and stories from the past five Halloweens (2006-2010). From Brides of Frankenstein to hippies, we always have a hauntingly good time!)

3. Hello, My Name is Matt…and I’m a Merc - Oct. 7, 2010 (Even though it’s like pulling teeth to get Matt to write a blog post, if you let him write about his alter ego, the force will be with you!)

4. It’s a Small World After All – Oct. 2, 2010 (In addition to being my dad’s birthday, it was our fifth annual World Card Making Day! So fun to share pictures of our readers with their Paper Crafts magazines!)

5. Fabulously Frocked Feet – July 6, 2010 (Former managing editor Brandy J. plays “Guess whose feet belong to who?” Okay, so this random post had nothing to do with paper crafting…I just thought it was fun!)

6. Freebie Friday – 2010 Gallery Idol Winner – July 2, 2010 (Congrats to Belinda Chang Langner!)

7. Creatively Heals – June 4, 2010/Freebie Friday – Armed Forces Day – May 14, 2010 (From a grandmother who battled breast cancer this summer to honoring those who have served in the military, I love any day I get to talk about my sweet family!)

8. Groovin’ with the Go-to Gals – 867-5309 – May 12, 2010 (I pretty much worship our Go-to Gals. They’re uber talented, sweet as apple pie and great cheerleaders for our brand and magazine. I just love what Jessdid here with phone book paper. She single-handedly started a trend here. Who knew?)

9. Practically Perfect in Every Way – March 11, 2010 (We finally got to meet and snuggle Brandy’s little man, Cooper Kaleb Jesperson!)

10. Magazine Monday – The Doodlebug Office Tour – March 8, 2010 (The Doodlebug office is everything you would expect it to be…bright, happy and dripping in sparkling glitter!)

Happy Blogiversary, PCC! Thanks to all of you who keep coming back for more. We really appreciate your support. And since no celebration would be complete without presents, today I’m giving away Pink Paislee’s Sweetness Collection! Leave a comment and I’ll pick one lucky winner to take home this collection. All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Tuesday, February 8.

Happy Monday!
Kelly

P.S. It’s time to announce the winner of Kim’s Peace, Love & Paper Smooches post!

Katie M. (Feb. 4, 11:04 a.m.)

Congrats, Katie! You’ve won all three Paper Smooches stamp sets from Kim’s February release. I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing address. Thanks to all who left comments!

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Freebie Friday! Did you know that today is National Hugging Day? That’s right…a day dedicated to embracing others and being embraced in return. How fun is that!

Our former managing editor, Brandy J, shared this post on National Hugging Day last year. She was literally counting down the days until Baby Cooper Jesperson made his grand entrance into this world. Now a year later, she (and the rest of us!) love to smother this cute little man in hugs and kisses.

But hugs aren’t just for babies. Some of the best hugs I’ve received have been from friends I’ve made through this connective hobby.

There's nothing better than a group hug!

Here I am with a few of my favorite Paper Crafts peeps: Go-to Gal Teri Anderson, Trends Editor Cath Edvalson and Designer Lisa Johnson. This picture was taken last year at CHA. We’re gearing up for the Craft & Hobby Association’s 2011 Winter Trade Show in just eight days. Kerri will share our fun plans next week. You can bet there will be lots of hugging going on!

If you feel like “embracing” this fun holiday (and need some inspiration), here’s a few huggable projects from our love-infused January/February 2011 issue:

Hugs & Kisses Banner Card by Debbie Olson

Elegant Hugs & Kisses Card by Susan Deering West

Hugs & Kisses Candy Tin by Laura O'Donnell

How cute is this little tin? I’m already envisioning chocolate Kisses tucked inside…just waiting to be opened and enjoyed. If you’d like to recreate this project, you can get complete supplies and instructions right HERE.

But before I go…who wants a hug? Our friends at Hero Arts would like to send three lucky commenters their Hugs & Kisses stamp – the same stamp Laura O’Donnell used in her Hugs & Kisses Candy Tin. In addition, all three of the designers featured above would like to send their projects home to you. Leave a comment telling me who you will be hugging today and you could win one of these fabulous creations, PLUS a Hugs & Kisses stamp from Hero Arts. All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Sunday, Jan. 23.

Three winners will take home this cute stamp from Hero Arts!

Happy Hugging!
Kelly

P.S. It’s time to announce the winner of Susan’s Feeling Pretty Stamp-tastic! post and the three winners from Jessica’s Playing Favorites with Stamp It! Techniques post!

Susan’s winner:

Toni Storie (Jan. 18, 2:43 p.m.)

Jessica’s winners:

1. Kim (Jan. 19, 9:24 p.m.)
2. Kelly Massman (Jan. 19, 4:42 p.m.)
3. Natalie Winterstein (Jan. 19, 7:14 a.m.)

Congrats, winners! I’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes and get your mailing addresses. Thanks to all who left comments!

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Freebie Friday! I’m told snow is heading our way next week…just in time for Turkey Day. And while I’ll be enjoying a fried variation in Texas, it will be fun to return to a winter wonderland. There’s nothing like a little snow to put me in the Christmas spirit!

Speaking of Christmas spirit, just last weekend, our card group met to swap holiday tags and make mini notebooks – perfect for recording those naughty and nice lists! We made larger versions last year after I was inspired by a holiday planner made by Miss Lisa Johnson. Click HERE for her step-by-step instructions for this fun project!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Tags designed by (from left to right): Brandy, Jennifer, Becky and Megan.

Tags designed by (from left to right): Andrew, Rox, Kelly and Brady.

After we swapped tags and gushed over Brandy’s little Coopster (who just got his first hair cut!), we sat down to work on our mini notebooks. They measure 3″ x 8″ and are the perfect size to drop in a purse as you head out shopping this season. Most of us went with the Christmas theme, but some saw the gift potential and made theirs more non-seasonal. The best part…they’re super easy and super quick! We had this project done in less than an hour (including breaks to gab, snack and gush over that cute baby).

Here's all of our fun mini notebooks!

Wanna make your own holiday tags and notebooks? I sent my card group peeps home with Crate Paper’s Snow Day collection. Sadly, only half of our members could join us, so I have extras to spare! Leave a comment telling me how you stay organized throughout the holidays. I’ll pick two winners to take home a Snow Day collection, a blank notebook and a set of 8 tags (shown above). All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, Nov. 21.

Two winners will take home this fun prize package (plus 8 tags)!

Happy Friday!
Kelly

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Freebie Friday! Did everyone enjoy “meeting” little Cooper yesterday? Isn’t he a sweetheart? I must say, spring is definitely the season for babies…at least in my world right now!

My cousin and his wife welcomed their baby boy Nixon Bradley five days after Cooper was born. And my girlfriend Ann is due any day now with her first boy. I was hoping he would come on my birthday earlier this week, but the little guy is being stubborn and holding out for a cooler day. Maybe he’ll come on St. Patrick’s Day, just like my sister did 31 years ago!

With babies and birthdays clearly occupying my mind, I thought I would look up the origin and meaning of my own name. Even though I’m not of direct Irish descent, I know that the name “Kelly” is in fact Irish. According to BabyNamesWorld.com, my name means “war, strife, bright-headed”. One out of three adjectives ain’t bad, unless, of course, “bright-headed” refers to the color of my head and not what’s inside it! Sigh. I was really holding out for “warrior princess”…

Fortunately, the luck of the Irish was all over our resource book A Card a Day! For those of you of not familiar with this publication, essentially it’s a book with 365 card ideas – one for each day of the year. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

This Lucky Friend Card comes from birthday girl Betsy Veldman.

I'm so making Alli Miles' Lucky Card for my sister's birthday!

I love the sentiment on Shanna Vineyard's cute Shamrock Card.

Are you feeling the need to create something green? Then it’s your lucky day! I’ve got one giant green prize package! Leave a comment telling me the origin of your name (feel free to visit the web site I cited above) and one person will take home Little Yellow Bicycle’s Lucky Me collection. All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, March 14.

One winner will take home this Lucky Me collection from Little Yellow Bicycle!

Happy Friday!
Kelly

P.S. Hop on over to the Get Sketchy blog to see editor Susan Opel’s lovely green card! And join us on Monday as we show you more card examples of the green persuasion. Perhaps there will even be some shades of “Kelly” Green!

Jennifer Schaerer

We’re a tight-knit team around here, and because of that we all feel like we’ve just had a baby.

Okay, not really.

But ohmygosh…we were so excited when Brandy let us know it was finally our turn to meet Cooper Kaleb Jesperson! Yesterday was the day, so we swung by a local restaurant to grab Brandy’s favorite meal and headed over to her house for lunch.

We were so enthralled with this little man that we almost forgot to eat.

Hi everyone! Meet Cooper!

Do babies get any sweeter than this?

Cooper loves him some Cath time!

Ah, the experience of being a mom to three. Brenda swaddled Cooper and snuggled him right up!

Kelly in a focused moment with Cooper, trying to find the exact right spot for that binky while Brandy takes a break.

Hunger calls, though, and Cooper let us know when he was more than ready for Brandy to be back on duty.

Hey, you're not my mom.

So Brandy, in her deft and impossibly comfortable way, let Cooper join in the lunchtime occasion. And boy, can he ever mow through a bottle!

If someone can be a natural mother, Brandy is it!

Although we would have spent the entire afternoon at Brandy’s house, just admiring her little miracle and getting our Brandy “fix” until she returns to the office, we still had the small matter of a few magazines to produce.

So, we did what tight-knit teams do and grabbed a quick group shot with our new #1 little man.

Cooper and his harem of admirers

I spent the visit at a distance to protect Cooper from my late-season sniffles, but just being with Brandy and absorbing her happiness as a new mom was more than enough for me.

Since it really is the season for babies (and brides, too!), if you’re inspired to join the fun during our Babies and Brides Gallery Challenge, please do!

Basking in the baby bliss,
Jennifer