Happy Birthday Katie!!!!

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you... Happy Birthday dearest Ka-tie, Happy Birthday to YOU!  A handful of Katie's "stamp family" peeps have come together to kick off a Birthday Blog Hop, we hope that you will join us in wishing Katie a Fairy Happy Birthday, by adding your birthday card to the Linky tool below.  

While Birthday hops are great fun, we have a little extra something for those of you popping in here to read this post.  If you are a follower of this blog you know that last year we did an "Artist Spotlight" on each of the Paper Makeup Artists, but we never got to Katie's Spotlight.  In addition to the "interview" I did with Katie, I decided to also "interview" Katie's parents (Kip & Carma).  Earlier this week I sent them a few questions and here's what they had to say about our Katie...

1.  Favorite memory of her childhood:

 Kip - We used to play in her sandbox and little swimming pool together during hot summer days.

 Carma - I don't have one specific incident but she loved to wear dresses when she was a pre-schooler and they had to be "twirly" ones (full skirts that would twirl).  I made a lot of her clothes and made lots of twirly dresses but she wasn't a "girly-girl" that wouldn't get dirty!  She also loved to ride her big wheel and be outside and has always been a bit of a daredevil.  Away she would go, racing down the driveway with her full skirt billowing out behind her.  There was more than one dress that had to be shortened or thrown away because the skirt got caught in the wheels.  We also had lots of fun with her Halloween costumes and one was a Minnie Mouse outfit that had a red dress with big white polkadots.  She continued to wear that dress until it was too small and just worn out!  (I think it may have been the victim of the bike wheels.)

2.  Proudest moment of her life:

 Kip - Too many to mention. (Her graduating from college, her starting up a company, her children... etc., etc.)

 Carma - I'm kind of like Kip here.  We're really proud of both of our girls.  They have become wonderful young women.  I guess maybe I'd say I'm proud of her "go after it" attitude.  Nothing stops her.  She is a great mom, a successful entrepreneur with her stamp company and with her make-up artist career, but most of all she's a loving, caring person with a heart of gold.

3.  Something silly about her:

 Kip - She a "California Blond" even though she grew up a Hoosier.

 Carma - She's probably locked herself out of her house/apt/car more than the average person.   :)

4.  One food from her childhood she just HATED:

 Kip - Pizza.... go figure.

 Carma - Yep, it's pizza!

5.  Anything else you want to add: She's just too special.  One of two... she and her sister.

Bwahahahahaha!  While I giggled at most of those answers, not a single one surprised me... that's Katie!  Thanks Kip & Carma for this, you both are wonderful and you've given us all a great, great friend!!!! 

Now, here's Katie's answers to the Artist Spotlight interview (let me add, that the pink & black font colors below were exactly the way she sent it to me, of course! lol):

1. When did you get started stamping?  4 years ago after I moved from LA to South Carolina.  I had always loved scrapbooking but was diving into it more with Jack's baby book.  Since I didnt know anyone in the area, i posted on freecycle looking for scrapbook items and someone from a local craft group contacted me and invited me to join them.  From that point I was invited to all the hostess shows (stampin' up, close to my heart, etc) and just became hooked!  but then i had all these ideas of what i wanted to see as a stamp... mostly because of my love of quotes and wanted many of them in stamp form.  My hubby told me I should just start my own company and with some encourage of a few close pals, i decided to give it a go and here we are!
2. Tell me 5 songs or artists on your iPod right now.  Paramore, Neon Trees, Dashboard Confessional, Keane, Switchfoot
3. All Stylists have a go to accessory or tool... what's yours?  So are we talking makeup or stamping?  haha.  I guess I would have to say my copic markers.  I love to color and that was one thing i knew i HAD to have in my own stamp company, lots of fun images to color!  But even when i'm using a wordart I use my copics to airbrush or change the color of embellishments, etc.
4. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Butter Pecan!  But really, any form of frozen sweetness will do!           
5. Where do you find inspiration? Everywhere, really.  I know that is a totally generic answer!  But it all depends on what I'm needing the inspiration for. Inspiration in life comes from my family... inspiration to find who i am comes from journalling... inspiration for project making comes from finding new techniques and products!  I LOVE playing with "new" stuff!
6. Do you have a favorite technique or style?  Punky chic?  Is that a style?  I like things that are both trendy and different.  Like indie rock stamping!
7. What is your favorite color palette? Grey and pretty much anything!  Currently loving fuschia quite a bit.  I'll always be a fan of the classy black and red combo too though.  
8. When your 'mojo' takes a spa day without you, what gets your creative juices flowing again?  Blogs!  I love my blogs favorite list and whenever i'm feeling a little mojo-less i go thru.  I also subscribe to a lot of my favorite blogs and it's the first thing i do in the morning with my cup of coffee!  When i'm crafting and i need a mojo boost, i crank the volume up on my favorite tunes!
9. When you aren't stamping, what do you like to do?  Well, everyone knows I'm a makeup artist, so clearly I like to do makeup and beauty things!  I'm also a big magazine reader.  Not nearly as smart as a good book, but much easier for me to read while kids are running amuck in the house!  Plus it keeps me up on the current trends and gossip.  Teehee.  I also adore spending time with my kids doing nothing important (which is SO important!)  We go to the park or to the zoo and eat ice cream in the middle of the afternoon completely spoiling  supper!
10. Tell us something, not stamping related, about you...  Well, hmmm, what doesnt anyone already know about me?  Well, when i was living in LA my husband cast music videos.  Often times, when extras were needed he'd ask me along with some of our friends if we wanted to do it.  It's a bunch of sitting around, then your scene comes around and you either walk back and forth a lot or jump around in a music scene or do a lot of dancing.  It was always a lot of fun because you were paid to hang out with your friends all day and eat free food.  I've probably been in 30 plus music videos many of which you've probably seen if you at all watch music videos!  But you arent very likely to actually catch me in them.  When i tell people, they think it's so glamorous... it isnt at all!  But it was a LOT of fun!

Now hop on over and visit these members of Katie's extended stamping family...

And we'd LOVE to have you join us by linking up your Birthday card here...

Please feel free to leave Katie a birthday wish comment :)