It's her, KP

Good morning Blue House Fans. We are SO excited today to feature a fellow blogger and scrapbooker. Please welcome Kelly Purkey!!! 

We have been following Kelly's blog for the longest time and love her style.  Her resume includes designing stamps, photography, contributor for Northridge Publishing in which she has her own Signature Series book and most recently partnered with Basic Grey to design the Mon Ami collection.  When Kelly isn't working on Project Life, she can be found traveling the world in style and out on the town with her large circle of friends. Her blog reads like a modern day Carrie Bradshaw; chic, hip and trendy. She is a self proclaimed foodie and we are certain could give any recommendation of hip and delicious places to dine.  In fact, she is a former New Yorker and we recently visited the Big Apple (she recently relocated to Chicago, otherwise we probably would have reached out to her for a hopeful meeting and tour of the city) and one of the places she talks about so often is Shake Shack. So we knew we had to try a Shake Shack burger at the virtual recommendation of KP. That girl knows her burgers! Delicious.

We came up with a few questions to ask KP so you Blue readers could get to know her. So, let's see what Kelly had to say.

TBC: How long have you been scrapbooking? How did you get started?
KP: I've always taken a lot of photos and have been scrapbooking since I was 18 years old. My neighbor next door growing up was a Creative Memories consultant and helped me get started with lots of supplies.

TBC: When you start designing a line, where do you draw your inspiration?
KP: The inspiration comes from things that I save on a Pinterest board for many months. When I see something that really catches my eye or I think might be ahead of trend, I make sure to save it for future use. What did we do before Pinterest?!
TBC: no kidding, KP. no kidding!

TBC:  We love the Mon Ami line.  What is your favorite print? Why? (We love Bicyclette & Registre)
KP: Thank you, I am so glad you like it! I really love Rue because I have a thing for skylines. They make me happy.

TBC: Another winter storm has you snowed in in Chicago so you have 48 uninterrupted hours to scrap.  What projects do you need to get caught up on?  Is your project life all caught up? 
KP: I've got about 10 weeks done in my Project Life album and I feel really good about it! It would feel great to be caught up on it, but there's only so much time we can all devote to scrapbooking. When I work on it, I like to binge though and crank out a few weeks at a time. It helps me to concentrate on that and nothing else, get into a good groove. I also always have more ideas for products, especially stamps. If I was snowed in, I'd be happy just designing tons of stamp sets to put into production.

TBC: We recently visited NYC for the first time and were heartbroken that we missed hanging out with you since you moved to Chicago.  Had we been able to make a connection, what are the top places you would have taken us?
KP: My favorite place to eat is Shake Shack, which is a very simple fast food restaurant. But I love the cheeseburgers there and get cravings for them. There are many locations but my favorite is the one in Madison Sq. Park. I also always take people to walk the Brooklyn Bridge because the view is amazing. There is also great pizza at the end of the bridge on the Brooklyn side at a place called Grimaldi's. Coffee. Lots of coffee. There are fabulous coffee shops all over the city - my favorites are Stumptown, Toby's Estate, Happy Bones, Blue Bottle, and Gasoline Alley. Then I love ending the day with dessert and a must-hit is Big Gay Ice Cream which has the best sundaes and cones.
TBC: we LOVED the MSP location, but it was snowing and entirely too cold to dine al fresco. We opted for the Grand Central location. Hands down, THE best burger!!!

TBC: We KNOW Shake Shack had to make the list from the question above, so foodie to foodie, run down your Shake Shack order for us…
KP: Ha! I didn't even see this question when I was answering my list above. So funny! I get a cheeseburger, only pickles. Cheese fries (with the cheese on the side if I'm splitting with my best friend, Amanda.) And a large Coke. They have a rotating list of custard flavors, so if there's something good I'll add on one of those, too, or often a Black + White milkshake. If you're vegetarian and going to Shake Shack, the mushroom "burger" is fantastic - however it's not the healthiest option: deep fried mushroom stuffed with cheese!

TBC: Do you retreat?  Do you have a group of scrappy/crafty girlfriends?  How often do you get together with them?
KP: One of the best things that I've gotten out of scrapbooking is my crafty friends and I am lucky to have them. We get together once in a while for a Crafternoon or Scrapurday. It's really fun for us to all be together.

TBC: What are five basics items we will always find in your scrapbook supplies?
KP: Tiny Attacher, Fiskars trimmer, ATG adhesive tape gun, American Crafts .03 Precision Pen and
Black StazOn Ink

TBC: Can you give us any hints or sneaks about your upcoming creative endeavors?
KP: I have another collection coming out this summer with BasicGrey that I'm super pumped about. It looks nothing like Mon Ami, which is fun for me to get to switch it up
TBC: We are so excited to see this release.

TBC: BONUS QUESTION!!!  Next time you make it to the Dallas/Ft.Worth area, can we give you a tour of the Little Blue House and take you for some REAL BBQ?
KP: Yes, please! I have never been to Dallas so I would love to come for a visit and definitely some BBQ
TBC: We can't wait!

Please hop over to Kelly's blog and follow her. We know you will love her as much as we do! In the meantime, here are some of our favorite KP projects.










Thank you so much, Kelly, for taking the time to answer our questions to be featured on our new blog. We hope you take us up on our BBQ offer. Until then...............

So, Blue Fans...check out Kelly's Mon Ami collection and tell us what YOU love about it. Comment and follow for a chance to win.

Our winners from yesterday are: ScrapoholicKK, Stephanie W., Claudia & Deb Kahler...ooops, did I draw 4 winners?  Yes I did!!  Congrats ladies.  Email us at lbhbluecrew@gmail.com.

Stay True Blue!
Cat and Nat