Mother's Day Gift :: Wine Charms

For my mom's birthday last summer, I took this idea from Oh Happy Day for Father's Day & whipped it into something more Mom-like. Wine charms!

Super easy! Follow the directions on OHD for making Skrinky Dink key chains, but insert a wine charm ring instead of the key ring. This thoughtful gift really couldn't be easier or more fun to make. My brother & my mom's best friend helped me pool photos. We all had a load of fun going through the finished charms, checking to see how they came out.

A few tips - photos with a lot of black or dark colors get really dark when you bake the material. Lighter photos or photos where your subject is wearing light colored clothing work best. Also! Words are super easy & shrink down well! Maybe think about writing Mom a little letter on her charm. Or draw or print out her monogram! Ooooh...Note to my mother: pretend you didn't read that. You might be getting another round of these!

Don't forget: Mother's Day is May 11! Best of luck! If you do this project, share your photos with me on Instagram or Twitter!

Resources: Shrinky Dink paper on Amazon. Wine charm rings from I Like Pie on Etsy

New & Improved Mother's Day Cards

I have successfully moved my Mother's Day cards to the press & now they are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Behold - the glittery Happy Mother's Day card & the also sparkley I Heart Mom!

Happy Mother's Day is letterpressed on #90 cotton paper in metallic gold. It comes with a lime envelope. Hot pink, white or kraft also available if you would prefer.

I Heart Mom has a fabulous new look in gold & rhodamine red. No envelope liner this time - just a crisp white envelope to keep complete the stunning statement on the card.

There is also a Mother's Day special on the shop as in previous years - one of the above cards PLUS any set of stationery in my shop! And! If you liked last year's cards & want a deal on them, they are on sale - $3.00 and free first class shipping.

Check out all the Mother's Day offerings on my Etsy shop!

Bye, Bye Oldies but Goodies!

The first KBDS giveaway is over. Booooo!!! But we have 4 winners!! Yay!!!!

Congrats to: Tracey Bailey, Misty Davis, Jenn Quinn & Carolyn Horne

Everyone's cards have been sent. Please let me know if you didn't receive your package...or! Let me know that you DID receive it & how in love with the cards you are! Kidding! No I'm not.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I still have some leftovers, so perhaps we'll do a round 2. Stay tuned!!

Paper Porn

A letter opener! A simple luxury, but one I encourage everyone to indulge in.

Brass Ruler/Letter Opener from SchoolHouse Electric & Supply Co.

** Love stationery & paper products? Follow my Paper Porn board on Pinterest or submit something you like to: kerry {at} kbattydesignandstationery.com or tweet @kmbatty **

My First 2-Color Job

I've been spending lots of time on the press lately & am super excited to show my first 2 designs that I printed in TWO colors!!

Look at that registration. Man, that makes me happy. This is a new design - love, from me. Now that I've inked it, it's time to take some photos & put it on Etsy!

I've learned some neat tricks about setting up my designs for easy registration. Glad to be putting them to use AND that they work. (as I wipe my forehead with relief & exhale...) I'm also super excited to move my Mother's Day designs to the press. YAY!!!

Also! I'm trying a new color on the press - metallic gold. Seeing my press all shimmery in this color makes me so happy, I'm practically giddy. You'll love it too, I'm sure...as will Mom which is why I chose Mother's Day cards to debut it. Special ink for a special lady!

Notice the square format of my photos? Well! These are all things I posted on Instagram  over the weekend. Come join me! It's my social media outlet of choice at the moment.

A break from the action

{this is me with a rototiller!}

Have you noticed my radio silence this week? We took a break from our "regularly scheduled program" to work at the farm this week. These are always short intense weeks when we're here. Seeing friends if we can, working outside on a project & trying to complete it before we head North. Well worth the hard work & sore muscles!

In other news, 2 winners were chosen today for the Oldies But Goodies Giveaway. Sadly, our first winner never got back to me with her address. So! I doubled down today! Want to win some great cards & stationery? Enter on the KBDS Facebook page!

Oldies But Goodies Reminder!

Tomorrow, Friday, is the day I draw our first winner in the Oldies But Goodies Giveaway. I am super pumped! How about you?  I have some extra goodies to put in the prize packs like:

Some fun applique cards! This is a heart stamped on cardstock that's adhered to the card with a piece of adhesive tape. 3D! 

This holiday card makes me so happy! I hope it will put a smile on the face of our first winner on Friday.

Did you enter?? You know, you can't be a winner if you don't enter.

To do that, head over to the KBDS Facebook page & look for the Giveaway tab. There are only 2 required hoops to jump through to enter. Tweet about the giveaway & Like K. Batty on Facebook.

Now! How to do that...there is a Tweet button in the widget. Click that. I have a pre-written tweet that you can send out. Then, after you send the tweet, click on the time stamp under your tweet. That takes you to a new screen that has a special URL at the top. Copy & paste that URL into the Rafflecopter widget. Easy peasy!

Looking forward to crowning the first winner!!

Playing!

{Sweet Sophia!}

{Spider Mum leftover from a photoshoot. So dramatic!}

A friend of mine lent me a 50mm lens for my camera. I've used to to photograph the St. Patrick's Day banner, the cards for the Oldie-but-Goodie Giveaway...and a few other things around the house.

April Birthdays, Listen Up!

I'm on a mission to send birthday greetings to my readers this year. We need more actual handwritten cards & less Facebook posts people! Life happens offline too, you know.

Interested in getting something in the mail besides junk & bills? Great? There is a nifty Google form to collect your information. Find it here. As I said before, I promise this information collection is ONLY for the purposes of sending you a card, not for anything else, including my own mailing list. (Though you can sign up for that here if you're so inclined...insert toothy grin).

If you have a birthday in April, this is the last week to get your name in for my next mailing. May & June birthdays, don't lollygag! Your month will be here before you know it!

{photo by starfire on Flickr}

Cleaning out my cards = a KBDS Giveaway

As I have said a few times this Spring, I have been re-vamping some products, creating new ones & giving the axe to some old ones who no longer cut the mustard. That last bit means good things for you, dear reader.

I'm going to give you my oldies-but-goodies! Enter the Oldies But Goodies Giveaway!

Looking for a home in your stationery stash are:

Large Flo Greeting cards in blue or orange (making room for my new flourish stamp)

Smooches, digitally printed (making room for the same design on the letterpress!)

You're Cool, digitally printed (another design going to the press!)

Hi, Yo, Sup & Thx applique cards in pink. I'm continuing these in other colors.

Simple Elegant Thank You - I LOVE this design, but it's the only card I offer that's 4Bar (read: smaller than my others). Look for this card in my Etsy shop later this year, all grown up like it's brothers & sisters to my standard size (4.25" x 5.5").

There are a few more I may add to the offerings and I have a few other randoms I'll throw in for the winners. Here's how to get involved:

Check out the Giveaway section on my Facebook page to access the Rafflecopter widget.

Do the 4 required steps. Come back each day to tweet about the giveaway for more chances to win.

There will be winners each week for 4 weeks, chosen on Fridays. Winners will be notified via email. You have 48 hours to respond otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Once winners are confirmed, I'll announce their name on Facebook.

What you win: 5 cards - a mixture of the cards described above. If you have requests, I'll try my best to fill those until inventory is scarce.

I'm so excited to give these cards a new home & help build your supply of cards. Once you have them, I bet you'll be surprised how much you use them. As I have said before, having cards around is an excellent way to be good (or at least better) at sending greeting cards.

So, again ----> Go to my Facebook page to enter. Good luck!