Kathie Bailey

Our very Special Guest Designer is Kathie Bailey

I've had my eye on Kathie for quite some time now. Her blog, "Just An Inkling" has been a daily pit stop for me for a couple of month's now. Not only featuring cards, it features projects and challenges that she has done. Always thoughtful, her colorful layouts keep me clicking through her blog to see more.

And though Kathie designs for another stamp company, I couldn't wait to see what she did with The Cat's Pajamas. And I loved what she did with them so much I decided I must feature her.

This card has the wonderful use of color that makes Kathie so special. Using muted colors and a wonderful layout, this card just sings. Kathie takes one of our new Christmas sets and cleverly designs a card that can be for Christmas (without screaming Christmas) or any day.

Here Kathie uses red, white and blue for a birthday card. She adds double threading to the buttons for that extra texture.

I just love black, red and white. There is something so crisp about this combo. Add a little lace and silver for punch, this card is a keeper, not a giver.

We wanted to know what made Kathie tick. So we asked her.

What's your favorite product?  

I am a patterned paper fanatic!  My husband jokes that we could paper our entire house in it and I don't think that's an exaggeration! :-) I love how paper can set the mood for my cards whether they are romantic, fun, whimsical or even spooky.

What's your favorite stamping technique or tip?  

When I am stamping an image that I will be coloring with markers or watercolors, I always stamp two images. I use one image as my testing ground. That way I can play with color and blending until I get the exact look I want before I move on to my finished image. I can't count the number of times it has saved me from having to stamp a new image and start over.

What got you into stamping? 

Several years ago, my daughter, mom, sister and I decided to get together every few months to have a craft day.  I purchased several craft magazines to look for ideas when it was my turn to host and I saw several creations made with stamps. Even though I chose another project at the time, I made a mental note to try stamping. Fast forward a couple of months...I discovered scrapbooking and jumped in with both feet. I found that stamping was a natural extension to scrapbooking. 

How long have you been stamping? 

I began stamping in April of 2003, but it wasn't until August of that year that I began dabbling with stamps to make an occasional card. I really began focusing on stamping and card making in June of 2007 when I stumbled across card making blogs. The talents of Debbie Olson, Laurie Schmidlin, Anna Wight and a host of others took my breath away. I knew right then that I wanted to fully commit to this hobby.   

Want to see more of Kathie and her awesome work? Come back next Wednesday for more.