Little Did I Know Blog Hop!!

First, my apologies for not having this up on time. Some of you know of my computer difficulties....poor, old girl is slowly dying. I can get it going off and on. Sometimes, I'll get a good run out of it and can work for several days in a row. Other times, like recently, there are a few days in a row whn I cannot even get it started. Most frustrating!

But...on to the Blog Hop!

Have you seen the new collab from The Boomerang designers at Hummie's World??  Wowzers! I am so proud to have been a part of this collab. Hummie loves blue and white together and gave us a wonderful palette to work with. And then she gave us an even better theme...Little Did I Know. The possibilities were endless and this collab could have really been all over the place, which sometimes happens when you have different designers with different styles. You know what I'm talking about, right?But that didn't happen here. We have such an awesome team at Hummie's World, this collab came together and looks as if it was designed by just one person. All the pieces go together beautifully and it is just a fantastic kit. Check it out:

Isn't that gorgeous?? I haven't done a kit with such a narrowly defined color scheme before, but I have to admit that it's brilliant!

To celebrate, we're having a Blog Hop!  You can pick up extra little goodies to expand your Little Did I Know kit from each of us!  Woo-hoo!! You can see the list of participants here.

Hummie just loves my page borders, so I created 4 of them for you as my part of the Blog Hop. I hope you enjoy them! Click on the image to download.

Don't forget to get the rest of your goodies! Stop by Nan's blog next!

Coupledom Collection (and freebie alert!)

I am so happy to announce my Coupledom Collection, exclusively at With Love Studio!  This is a collection that started with just the original kit and addon MONTHS ago! It has taken me a while to get back to it and I'm so happy I did.

I wanted to create something a bit more sophisticated and subdued...away from my usal style, but just a bit...and I think I succeeded. The color scheme is one I would love in my bedroom! I made the kit versatile enough to work with friendships all the way up to committed relationships. I even included elements for same sex couples.

The Add On is a bi more playful with fun backgrounds. The clear pockets are very much the "thing" lately, and were a lot of fun to create. I see a lot more of them in my designing future! And, as usual, I really enjoyed creating the frame clusters so you can see how well the elements cluster and work together.

I hope you'll love scrapping with this kit as much as I loved creating it!

I only have 2 pages to show you. My poor CT...I only posted their links a few days before release, so they didn't have time to work with it!  I managed to scrap a page and I have a real stunner from Julie.

And, because I loved this collection so much (and because I love you, my loyal fans!), I've created a freebie to accompany it! So scroll back up to the top of this page and click the freebie page!!

Stay tuned next week for another new release!!

Open Doors Collection

I'm so excited to announce the release of this new collection!

My life has been in turmoil for over a year now. I lost my job because I hade a nervous breakdown due to my husband becoming dangerously close to losing his life, followed by the realization that he had a serious problem with alcoholism, which led to his being committed to a rehab facility and to our separation; without either of us working, we almost lost our home (and I still might lose it as I am now a single mom making barely enough to make ends meet); it took me 9 months to find a job and that at a $4.50/hr pay decrease and 10-12 fewer hours per week; my ex is not interested in helping, I have no friends or family where we live (I moved across the country because my ex wanted to move back to his home state) and my oldest son (I have a 6-yr-old and a 3-yr-old) is autistic with Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, Anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and is showing early signs of dyspraxia (all of which means lots of meds and therapy! LOL). Life is not easy right now and there have been many, many tearful nights--and days!--in the past year. My oldest and I are constantly at odds and he is becoming quite violent and almost uncontrollable when he has episodes of defiancy and meltdowns (they involve hitting, kicking, biting, slapping, choking--especially when I'm driving and he unbuckles himself!--throwing things at me and yelling, "I hate you so much, Mommy!"). There are days when I just want to run away because I simply can not handle anymore. I have often questioned if I can make it, how I can make it, if I'm strong enough to pull through all this. But, living day by day, taking care of things one at a time, praying a LOT, and realizing that, in many ways, my life is better than it has been in years, has really opened my eyes.

It took me a while to realize that drastic changes in life do not have to necessarily be scary or negative. When one door is closed to you, another is always open...you just have to find the courage to look for it. Open Doors is a collection to remind you that one ending leads to a second (or third, or fourth) beginning. Set your fears and misgivings free and walk through that door into a new future!

With all that said, I bring you the Open Doors collection!

And now for a little eye-candy!! I only had 2 CT gals to work with this collection, but they rocked it! And I added a couple LOs of my own, of course!

 Have you been waiting all this time to find out who won the give-away?  Well, wait no longer.....

Congratulations, Romajo! I will be contacting you soon with your download links!

And a little FYI....if you've been waiting for me to bundle my various collections together, you'll only have to wait a bit longer! And if you like to saveeven more than store discounts for bundles, you might want to make sure you're signed up for my newsletter!!

Ready For A Give-Away??

Hey...remember me? LOL

I'd like to say the reason I haven't posted on here in so long is because I have been insanely busy designing, but that just wouldn't be entirely true. The truth is life is sometimes scary, frustrating and rarely goes the way we expect; when ne thing goes wrong, it seems like several others go in the same direction. So, that's where I've been...scared, frustrated and in one big ol' creative slump.

Luckily, the design fairy came for a long hoped for visit and gave me a whopping dose of creative motivation! To celebrate, I'm doing my first give-away! Take a look at what I have coming out soon:

Want a chance to win this kit? It's easy...just leave a comment below! Share on your Facebook page, your blog or on Twitter and leave another comment for more chances. I'll choose one lucky person to win the kit on Saturday.

I also have an add on and 3 companion packs coming out to coordinate with this kit, so be on the look out!

Happy Scrapping, everyone!

With Love Studio

So, we all know by now that I'm a terrible blogger, right? I just can't seem to get a schedule down for blogging regularly. Life is just too crazy lately!

Well, I'm firmly ensconced at With Love Studio, the 2nd of my new stores!! I am sooooo excited to be there. I'm still a little slow getting into the forums there as I've had company for almost a month straight. But, I hope that life settles into a better routine now.

I have my A New You collection at WLS, of course, and I've released a brand new collection today! Remember The Sun looks like a moody kit, but it's all about reembering there's sunlight even on our darkest days. All you have to do is look for that bit of sunshine and you'll see it peeking from behind the clouds.

And, of course, I have 4 companion packs that go with it. Some glassy alphas, hangers that are perfect for charms, photo frames or alphas, journal cards, and--my favorite--painted backgrounds.

And check out just a few of the beautiful layouts created with this collection! 

Check them out at With Love Studio now. And don't forget to post your LOs on my FB page. Ya never know when I might decide to RAK someone!

Happy iNSD everyone!



The Boomerang at Hummie's World!!

Has it really been almost a month since I last blogged?? My, my...how time does fly! LOL I have been so busy with this, that and the other in my personal life (which included a fantastic visit from my parents wherein I disappeared from the online world almost completely for a whole week!), I have had a lot of catch-up work to do. My first goal was to get set up in my new stores. And I've managed one so far.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I am now at The Boomerang, which is the store at Hummie's World. If you've never been to Hummie's World, you should definitely check it out. She has lots of tutorials, some are free tuts!, to help you learn scrapping or to develop your skills. Hummie is well known in the digi world and amongst us designers for her overall knowledge and generosity. She has been very kind and patient with me during the whole uploading process. And let me tell you, it must have taken a lot of patience because it has taken me a loooong time! LOL  I'm very happy to be part of her new endeavor and I hope to stay to watch and help it grow, welcome new designers in and make it a success for us and for Hummie. I hope you'll all go check it out!

What I, personally, hope to to within the forums while there is get some challenges started. I'd like to do a couple challenges each month provided I can keep up with the freebie prizes for each. I will, of course, post here whenever I host challenges. The first will be for iNSD, so stay tuned! I might even do more than one because I'm a challenge junkie! LOL

Of course, I expect to see all of you posting layouts using my goodies in the Hummie's World gallery. We have threads set up for each store product we release, and you can post your layouts there too to show off what you created with my goodies! Here is the link to the forum thread for the A New You kit. You never know when I might do a random pick of pages in that thread for a little something extra! Could be a coupon, a freebie or even a chance to CT for me with a new kit! So make sure you post those layouts in that thread!!

In honor of finally getting my store up and running at The Boomerang, my fabulous CT member, Melissa has created a cute little cluster. Check out the Freebies tab above to download it! That means that Keeping Track Part 3 has been removed, so I hope you all had time to grab it. (If you haven't, send me a quick note and I'll give you the download link. A newsletter with Part 2 will be sent out tonight or tomorrow night.)

Now on to the next store! I hope I can get set up there in time for their new releases this Friday! Stay tuned!!

CT Call!

That's right....I'm having a CT Call!! 

I didn't think I was going to have one this soon, but I've been approached with some exciting new offers and I think I'll need the help to get the ball rolling in the right direction. I need help not only in scrapping pages with my kits and any addons I create, but also an extra hand--or, more appropriately, an extra eye--to look them over for a quality check. It sure would help me cut down on my finished designing to finished product time. And you know those are two different things, right? LOL I'd also love help promoting on social networking sites and those digi sites that allow it. And, of course, it's great to have people to bounce ideas off of and a group to make suggestions, offer support and all those other hundred things that CTs are wonderful at doing!

Interested?



I hope to hear from a lot of talented scrappers! I would like to find at least 6 artists, but I'd be willing to take on more if you have the right stuff! So what are you waiting for?? Get that info to me stat!!

My Mojo Is Back!

I'm so excited! My mojo, which left a few weeks back without leaving so much as a forwarding address, has returned and inspired me with ideas for two more kits. I jotted down everything needed for one of the kits and a few items for the second and I'm ready to get started. In fact, I did get started and completed some doodles that I'll need for papers and elements. It's going to be a simple kit, with just a few colors in the palette, but it's a kit that holds a lot of meaning for me.

It's all well and good that I have my creative juices flowing again, but I need to stay off the internet and take advantage of it. The last time I felt this creative (I can barely remember that far back! LOL), I created an awesome color palette, 24papers and wrote down plans for over 60 elements and ideas for an addon kit. And then I lost all desire to design and I just can't get back "into" that kit. It's languishing on my EHD and, as much as I still want to finish it, I'll just have to wait until that particular bug bites me again.

For now, I'll plow ahead with this idea. It's all so clear in my mind...I just hope I can do that image justice in real life! I haven't done a whole lot of doodling in the past, but I'm teaching myself to use Illustrator. It's just slow going. Slower than I'd like anyway. Of course, it doesn't help that we've had a busy past week and busier weekend. My evenings seem to disappear before I know it and, by the time the boys are sleeping, I'm so sleepy myself that I can't get to the computer at all. And my poor house has been neglected for far too long. This weekend required massive cleaning and organizing.

I managed, by purchasing a larger bookcase, to gather all the boys games, puzzles and educational materials into one location; did a major clean-out, clean-up and reorganization of the toy room; cleaned both bathrooms; swept and mopped all the floors; put away the medical bills that have been sitting out since the beginning of the year; did five loads of laundry; got a good start on clearing off the dining room table (which is a catch-all for anything and everything) and the kitchen counter; got down our fish tank from the attic, cleaned it out, set it up and treated the water so we'll be ready for fish later this week; drew and cleaned up 8 doodles for the new kit and chose a color palette for it; plus all the normal grocery shopping and errand running. We even managed dinner out together as a family and a Wii session with Scooby-Doo. I hope all of you are having weekends that are just as productive as mine has been thus far!

Keep your eye out for a newsletter. I just might let you get a sneak peek at my new color palette!

It's Just As I Said

What did I tell you? If I miss a Sunday, it will make it easier to skip another and another and another. And that's almost what happened. The weekend before my store opened, I had family visiting and I wasn't able to post I meant to post during the week, but was too busy each night. Last weekend, I had a lot of personal stuff going on and wasn't able to post and--again--didn't have time during my evenings after work. So here I am, finally announcing on my blog that my Facebook store is open...even though it's been open for a couple weeks already!

So, umm...yeah. The store is open! Hoorah!! Everything is still 20% off because I've been too busy to go turn off the sale, so enjoy for a few more days. Let me show you what I have in there and some of the pages a few uber-talented scrap artists came up with for me.

First up is A New You, which is a kit I offered for free a while back at 9th& Bloom. I love the color palette; it's fresh, modern and soft all at the same time. I made this kit with a new beginnings, fresh starts and personal resolutions in mind. There are four companion packs that go with it: Frame Clusters, Journal Cards, Ricrac Stacks and Declarations.

Next up is the fan freebie kit, Keeping Track. I am so in love with this kit and I don't mind saying so! I can't remember where I stumbled upon the color palette for this kit, but as soon as I saw it, it spoke to me and I knew what I had to scrap. This kit is all about writing down your memories. Not just scrapping your photos, although that is a huge part of it. But it's all about journaling, writing down those memories that might seem small now, but that we never want to forget. You can download the full-size kit here on my blog, on my Facebook page and by signing up for my newsletter, but there are also four companion packs for this kit as well: Page Borders, Painted Clusters, Quotes, and Ribbon Stacks.

Aren't those pages gorgeous? I'm sending bug hugs and much thanks to the ladies who created them for me!

I've had a few messages asking me about the store. It shows an image of each collection in its entirety, but that doesn't mean you're choosing to purchase the whole thing! It's just a way of keeping each collection together in the store. Click on the image and it will take you into the section where you can purchase just the packs you want.

I think that's all for this week. I've been so busy with a few personal issues and at my day job lately that I haven't had much time for designing, but I have some exciting things heading your way!

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

I'm Getting Excited...Are You?

The day of my Grand Opening is approaching quickly. Let's forget that I only have a few items to bring into the store at this point...I'm still excited! LOL Granted, I have several more kits completed, but I really want to create companion packs for each so there is a whole collection. Then I need to find people to scrap with them and give them time to scrap; and I don't want to load everything in there all at once, ya know? Slow and steady wins the race, as they say. And this way, I don't look so lame when it takes me a month and a half to finish a kit because the boys aren't sleeping at night or the house is messier than usual or I'm so busy at work I'm too tired to design or I'm plain ol' lazy about it.

I've gotten several pages back from the fabulous gals scrapping with the kits and I love what they're doing. They make my kits look good, which--no matter how I might love the kit myself--is always pleasantly surprising. I can't wait to showcase their art! I hope I'm able to get everything uploaded and figured out by Wednesday. Keep your eyes peeled and then shop away!

In more personal news, I was very excited today about two things. My 5-yr-old lost his second tooth and has that adorable gap-grin going on (which means lots of smiling at the camera for mommy!) and my 2-yr-old woke up from nap, walked into the bathroom, pulled down his pants and Pull-up and pee-peed in his potty for the first time! And the little sneak didn't even announce it to any of us for almost an hour later!! I see a light at the end of the diaper-changing tunnel!

I hope all of you had an awesome weekend. Mine was pretty darn good.

(Don't forget to visit the Freebie tab above to download your goodies. Have you signed up for the newsletter yet? I sent my first one out last night and it had the download link for Part 2. If you missed it or didn't get it, I'll send another newsletter this coming Friday or Saturday, so sign up now!!)

Freebie Alert!!

How is everyone doing this week? I can tell you that between the full moon's effect on my kids (ai-yi-yi!!) and the huge amount of specialty quotes and virtual proofs I have to do for work this week, I've had some very hectic and crazy days! I'm ready for a little middle-of-the-week cheer...how about you?

If your answer is yes, you might want to click on the Freebies tab above.

Just sayin'!

My First Sneak Peeks

Here it is, Sunday again and I almost forgot to post! Since I have two small boys and I'm not into sports...at all...we're not doing Super Bowl Sunday. Instead, we're having Scooby Bowl Sunday! We bought pizza rolls, potato skins, jalapeno poppers, chips and dip and marshmallows, and spent the afternoon snacking, playing a Scooby-Doo game on the Wii, roasting marshmallows in the fireplace and we're ending the day with a Scooby-Doo marathon! It's been an awesome day and my boys are full of "I love you, Mommy" sentiments. Good times!

So good, in fact, I didn't want to come online to post on my blog. I knew I had to, though, or I'd never stick to my "every Sunday" rule again! This is going to be a relatively short post, so I can get back to the Scooby-athon.

I wanted to bring you a few sneak peeks of the kit and its companion packs that will be coming to the store soon. I'm still hoping for a February 15th grand opening, but if the talented artists I have using my kits finish up before then, I'll definitely open sooner!

This kit was actually given away at 9th and Bloom before they closed, so make sure you check your stash to make sure you're not buying something you already have! It's a fun kit...one of the first I created using a lot of my own doodles. The colors are fresh and it's themed with making a new beginning in mind. It has 18 papers, 2 alphas, and 110 elements! 

I also created four companion packs for this kit. You'll want to collect them all to accent your pages. Let me add that one of the companion kits is generic enough to be able to use with any kit. You'll be able to tell which one I'm talking about! Check them out on my Facebook page!

Next up is the fan freebie I'll be giving away. I hope to have it ready for you later this week. Make sure to "Like" my Facebook page and sign up for my newsletter because you'll need to in order to get all the parts! Part 1 will be offered on my Facebook page, Part 2 will be available through my newsletter and Part 3 will be right here on my blog. Here's a little peek at what you'll be downloading:

Let me just say that I LOVE this kit. Love the colors, love the elements and I love the companion packs I made for it too! The freebie kit has 14 papers, 1 alpha and 40 elements. The companion packs below will be available once the store opens. These are definitely a must have! 3 go with the kit perfectly and the fourth is, once again, versatile enough to go with just about any kit. Again, check them out on Facebook.

I can't tell you all how excited I'm getting! As I mentioned earlier, I have some very talented scrappers working with these kits and I am so pleased with the pages I've received from a few of them so far. I can't wait to share them with you!

That's it for today. I'm off to get the boys in their jammies. Then we'll be cozying up under a blanket on the sofa to finish off our Scooby-Doo DVD. Don't forget to check back later this week for a download link.

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!!

Third Time Lucky ???

I thought it was about time I make my first post here on my new blog. I'm not a very devoted blogger. I start out strong and then procrastinate long enough that it comes to a point when I think, "Eh...what's the point anymore?" LOL I hope by setting aside at least one day a week to post, I'll keep up with it and it will make a pattern so people will know when to come back to check for updates. So, it looks like Sundays it is!

I'm going to make this post a little about myself so you can all get to know me. Some of you are coming to know me through my new design name, Kiki Cole Designs; others know me from other digi sites as Cole; and still others may remember me from my old design name, Green Elephant Designs.

Once upon a time, I guess about 3 or 4 years ago, I started designing under Green Elephant Designs. I was at Hot Spot Scraps for a bit, Bits 2 Kits (my first digi designer home), and the longest at Designs In Digital. As so often happens, however, my family started to demand more and more of my attention and I had to stop designing. I continued being as involved as I could with the digi community and was on the CT at Digital Freebies up until they closed their forums. When the owner of Designs In Digital decided to close it, I was going to take over, but--again--life had other plans. So, here I am, hoping this will be "third time lucky" and I can really make a go of it!

My design style and abilities have changed in the past few years. I've had a few people tell they are glad I'm going to start designing again as they always liked my kits. Hopefully, I'll be even more successful at it during this run. I'm opening a Facebook store as I don't think I'll be able to keep up with any store requirements...not at this point anyway. Besides, I'd like to get my name out there and pages posted around digi world so I can get into a really strong, established store once I feel I'm ready for it. My plan is to not only release full-sized kits, but also coordinating companion packs for as many as I can. Things like frame clusters, page borders, scatters, element stacks and so on. I'd love to offer little games and challenges here on my blog occasionally and will try to offer freebies on a fairly regular basis as well. With that being said, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter because I'll be offering subscriber freebies as well!

A little about me: First and foremost, I'm the lucky mom of two handsome little boys who will be turning 6 and 2 in late Spring. I devote a lot of time to them, hence the reason I'm not ready to commit myself to store requirements. My oldest has been diagnosed with Asperger's, Sensory Processing Disorder with early signs of Dyspraxia. And my other...well, he's 2. Enough said! LOL I'm newly separated from my husband and, as a single mom, I really have my hands full most days. My husband is over regularly and we're trying to do this very amicably while leaving open the possibility that we just might work out our differences sometime in the future and be a family again.

I live in southern Louisiana, where hubby is from, but am from north-central Wisconsin. My entire family still lives there, of course, so it's hard on me having no blood relatives here to rely upon. I have been Blessed with wonderfully supportive in-laws, however, so I'm really quite lucky!

My boys and I spend a lot of time playing games, Hungry Hungry Hippos was the favorite a few weeks ago, playing with toys, and learning as much as we can about dinosaurs. Like so many people on the spectrum, my oldest has a subject of choice that he is absolutely obsessed with and it is dinosaurs. There was a time when all he would play with his dinosaur figures, all he would read was dinosaur books and all he would watch were dinosaur documentaries. How many 3-1/2 year olds do you know who can tell you a rhamphorhynchus isn't really a dinosaur, but a pterosaur that probably ate fish? Or that coelophysis was one of the earliest dinosaurs and lived at the same time as postosuchus? How many 3-1/2 year olds do you know who could even pronounce rhamphorhynchus, coelophysis and postosuchus much less pick them out of a picture?  In the almost 2 years since he first started his obsession, I've been able to get him interested in other movies/cartoons, other toys, other subjects. But we still go through periods (and we're going through one right now) where nothing will do except dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs! My youngest will tell you his favorite dinosaur is a brachiosaurus and he can recognize the easy ones like triceratops and T-rex, but his toy of choice is Disney Pixar's Cars characters (especially Mater, whom he calls Dadgum) and Pixar's Toy Story characters (Buzz Lightyear holds out over all the other Toy Story figures).

And what about me? When I'm not designing or scrapping, I'm usually reading. I am an English major with an emphasis in creative writing, so I almost always have my nose in a book or am scribbling down ideas for stories and essays. I do work outside the home, so I don't get to devote as much time as I'd like to designing. Unfortunately, my home needs cleaning, clothes need washing and children need feeding. LOL  But, as I don't sleep well at night, I spend most of my evenings--after the boys are settled down--at the computer trying one thing and another.

I hope to get a few things in my Facebook store by mid-February, and I hope to get my fan freebie out to you before that! It will be a full-size kit and you'll be able to pick up pieces by "Liking" my Facebook page, signing up for my newsletter and through a link here on my blog. I also hope to have coordinating packs in the store by then too.

So, stay tuned!