Ewe Complete Me

Yesterday I took the whole morning to just sit and create and one of my favorite things to do is watercolor. I've had this stamp set patiently waiting on the top of my desk for a day where I could just sit in a quiet house and paint a little.

And I'm so glad I waited. Because it was silent, nobody calling for a snack, no place to rush off to. 

Just sit. And paint.

Now, don't get me wrong, and don't judge. I love the hustle, bustle, crazy of our lives. I love that the boys NEED me around, because apparently no matter where I am in the house, shower, bathroom, laundry room, sleeping, there is almost always a fairly URGENT question for me to answer. Even when their Dad is sitting next to them, they will come and find me.  

And that's a-okay.

But yesterday. Silence.

So while yes, Together certainly IS the nicest place to be. Every now and again, I'll take alone in my peace and quiet, just for an hour or two.  

This adorable image is from The Cat's Pajamas and is titled Ewe Complete Me.  The set has a whole slew of cute sentiments to go with the image, I hope you'll check it out.

HB2U!

Well, I blinked and guess what, my littlest one turned SIX. Six? I can't believe it.

I'm knee deep in preparations for him including cupcakes for class, cupcakes for his buddies, a baseball game tonight two soccer games and a family BBQ tomorrow. Goodness gracious.

If you've been reading here a long time, you know that my boys both have nasty food allergies, which make bakery cake and cupcakes totally out of the question. I've found what I think is a pretty tasty little chocolate cupcake from Ms. Martha Stewart which you can find here. Although, I'll admit, I was pretty sad that my cardmaking abilities don't translate into cupcake frosting abilities. Grrr. They're tasty, but pretty sad looking little things when I'm done with them. Lucky for me, kids don't care, they just want to eat chocolate cupcakes.

I loved this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and while I deviated slightly, you can still see remnants of the original sketch in my design.  New patterned paper from My Mind's Eye.  Gosh, I just LOVE LOVE LOVE their papers.  I bought all four of the new Lime Tart paper packs. They are scaled down for cardmakers (yeah) and double sided (um, DOUBLE YEAH)

I really have neglected my beloved The Cat's Pajamas stamps lately, and I do so love me some PJ the bear in Honey Bear. While this stamp set was released around Valentines day, don't fool yourself, this is a GREAT set all year long.  I paired it with the Coolvetica Alphabet to add a personalized greeting "HB2U" of course. 

A promised, I'm going to *try* to get a little better about Copic colors. Here's a photo of what I used on my little PJ the bear....

Now... I've got to get back to the cupcake project, and clean up the disaster that has grown around my kitchen and start wrapping presents.  Gosh, I think I need staff or something to clean up as I move from one project to the next, its getting c-r-a-z-y around here!

You ROCK my world.

Just a quick reminder that tonight is the new release for my friends over at The Cat's Pajamas. If you've read here a while, you know how I feel about the penguins... and this month, they've formed their own little rock band in the new set Idols. The set will be available beginning tonight, but lucky me, I was able to pick one up at Alma's in store event at Right at Home Scrapbooking over the weekend!

Combined with my new favorite paper My Mind's Eye Stella Rose (also from Right at Home) and the sketch from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

I have a feeling this will be a go to set for my little boys. As a mom to a second grader, he's finding some of my stamps a little baby-ish for him, and this is one that I think will pass muster for friends birthdays etc. Also, he'd really love to play the drums in a few years. Personally, I'm praying he'll choose another instrument. Drums are expensive and um, lets be serious.... noisy!

Be sure to head on over to the TCP Member Company Forum for all the details on their amazing new release. But watch out, If need be, I'll fight you for a pinwheel CutUps die! *giggle*

My Heart Spins.....

I'm such a lucky girl! Kim from My Favorite Things and Alma from The Cat's Pajamas were here in Boston for the weekend for a tradeshow, had a full day of Make and Takes at my LSS Right at Home - which is 15 minutes from me. It was so fun to stamp the day away with the girls, pick up some new paper at the store (hush. don't you judge me, this girl loves paper.) and visit with my friends! Friday night we stayed up extra late chatting, I'm so sad that they are only here a few days a year. Miss you girls already!


Alma was sweet enough to bring some of the new, and otherwise unreleased stamps to the event. And of course, since I LOOOOVE me some Cat's Pajamas, I picked up a few! Here's a sneaky peeky at the new set titled "What a Blast!" Note: This set will be released Monday night - but if you're local (Boston, MA) there just MIGHT be a few left over at Right At Home! I wasn't fast enough on the draw and missed her fun new pinwheel CutUps Die, but you can bet I'll be buying it tomorrow night!

I just loved the sketch challenge that TCP recently ran for their weekly TCP Tuesday challenge, but was crazy busy this week. I used the Pennant CutUps from TCP for a quick and easy layout. You can bet I'll add this to my go to layouts.... Speaking of TCP Tuesday, if you didn't see already, TCP Tuesday now offers the chance at winning $10 in Cat's Cash just for playing (it is awarded at random to one lucky player each Tuesday!)

Don't forget that the Pajama Party for TCP's new release will be Monday night from 8-10pm EST over HERE on their forum. If you've missed out on all the amazing sneaky peeks the past week, then you'll find links to them directly from Alma's Blog. Seriously, seriously cute stuff people!

My little honey.....

I have this funny little boy, who simply LOVES honey. I swear, if I let him, he'd drink it straight out of the bottle. Loves it in a sandwich, on his cereal in the morning, sometimes with crackers instead of cheese or jam. I swear, he's part bear sometimes. And especially grumpy if he doesn't get a lick of that sweetness in his cereal in the morning!

So, of course, you see, I HAD to have this new Honey Bear stamp from The Cat's Pajamas for his valentine.

I gave PJ's little heart a generous coating of Glitzy Glitter and added the sentiment on a tiny tag using Divine Twine. You can find both of those goodies over HERE at TCP. Love that sweet sentiment, especially since he's a new reader and will certainly get the pun for himself.

Lots of snow here in New England, I tell you we are LITERALLY burried in snow and ice. The only good news? I don't have to feel guilty about a LOT of stamping!

TCP Tuesday: Sketch Time

Hey everyone, this week TCP Tuesday is back to sketch time. Alma's the hostess this week, and what a fun and versatile sketch she's drawn up for the occasion. I knew as SOON as I saw it which stamp I was going to work with, and I had my black striped ribbon in mind for that long panel....

As I got working with it though, well, I'm in the spirit of the sketch, but those crazy penguins from Round the Chimney took over and really took over much more real estate than I'd planned. Those penguins, they do like to run the show. *giggle*

I'm so partial to paper piecing and this set is truly fabulous for the job. I reached for this My Mind's Eye iBelieve paper, and used the solid red for the bricks, then reached into my Crate Paper Recollection pack for a woodgrain mantle. I'm getting SO excited for Christmas. We're getting some wrapped presents under the tree, I'm finally getting that shopping list under control....

Be sure to play along in the TCP Tuesday challenges for YOUR chance to be named the Swanky Stamper of the month! Visit this post on Alma's blog for all the details!

TCP Tuesday - So, so late

Okay, its Friday, and The Cat's Pajama's challenge was posted by Sony on Tuesday. Battling this cold is sending me to bed early, and severely cutting into my stamp time. Ugh.

And, if we're being honest, Sony's color combo for this week scared me. I'm a purplephobe. Sony's color challenge is a polar freeze, with icy blue, aqua and purple. gasp. purple. Stopped me dead in my tracks.

Okay, hush..... there isn't so much aqua, but come on, I used purple! I started off using Mercy's sketch this week, but then I've added on my mini circle panel thing - that I've been on a tear with - you don't even want to know how long I had to sift through that button jar to find a purple one. Really. Long. Time.

If anyone is curious as to the paper I've used today it is a mixture of Cosmo Cricket Togetherness and Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather.

Be sure to stop over to Alma's blog, and add your polar freeze creation to this week's challenge! If you're uploading to Splitcoast Stampers, be sure to add the keyword TCPTues137!

The Cat's Pajamas: New Release Blog Hop!

We've only been taunting you with the new releases from The Cat's Pajamas for the last week, so I'm happy to announce that they're available for sale. With four new CutUps dies and ten new stamp sets, WOW there is SO much new Swanky Goodness out there tonight!

I sure do hope that you've popped on over after being amazed by what Amy has put together for you tonight. If you've just tumbled into our hop, then be SURE to start on over at Jen's blog so that you don't miss a single (amazing) thing tonight!

I just love Big Bear - today he's stamped to kraft paper and colored with Copic Markers. He's a perfect size if you want to paper piece him - and he's got nice large areas if you love to color. As part of tonight's Design Team Hop we're all using CutUps dies to make your own embellishments.


I've paired the snowflake die with a button in the center with a bit of linen twine. You'll also see a bit of the Apron CutUps die peeking out at the bottom of my pattern paper. I love love love the way these dies work with felt, for such a warm handmade accent to your winter projects.

Now, there's really no time like the present to get shopping because have you seen the news? For The Cat's Pajamas, Black Friday starts on Tuesday and ends on Monday. From Tuesday, November 23 through Monday, November 27 we'll give all orders shipped in the US FREE Shipping. That's right FREE Shipping for almost a whole week. And if you live outside the US, shipping will be only $3.oo to ship your whole order.

Now that you've listened to my banter, you'll want to head off on your next stop on our hop - The Amazing Susan Liles a.k.a. Susie-Stamp-A-Lot. She is as sweet as she is talented, and I'm always picking up new tricks from her Suzy Q-Tips. Happy hopping everyone!!

A Swanky Little Pennant Banner

I know I've already posted today - but I would be remiss if I didn't share with you a fun project from The Cat's Pajamas that I'm working on using my CutUps Pennant Dies. Because as long as you're shopping tonight, you might as well pick yourself up these dies. They're amazing. The set includes pennants in two sizes, with coordinating scalloped pennants too! You may have seen that the dies when flipped upside-down make amazing Christmas trees. But also, the pennants themselves are an amazing home decor piece for any holiday.

Me, I've been working on a Christmas one - the best part, this is a project you can work on with your kids, they can help pick the paper, assemble the pieces, and maybe even help crank the elements through your Die-Cutter!

Another fun thing is that this is a great way to use up your scraps! Scrap usage is always a big deal for me! The more I can use of this years favorite paper, means the more paper I can buy next year guilt free.....

The banner is sort of hard to get a good picture of in place, so here's a full photo... you see my husband isn't a huge fan of me putting holes in our newly painted walls (eye roll) so I've tacked this to the back of the mirror over our fireplace.

And now - how about a few photos close up of the individual pennants? I added a wide striped ribbon bow to the center adding a red button and some Divine Twine (of course) to the center. The pennants are all hanging from a length of twill tape... jingle bells are hand tied between each pennant with Divine Twine (did you heed my recommendation yet and get some... really I'm not kidding, you NEED this stuff.)

I've used CutUps border dies are fabulous accents for banner toppers and that amazing CutUps snowflake to adorn some of the panels. Sweet. Again, I'm all about multi-purpose for my purchases.


Now, there's really no time like the present to get shopping because have you seen the news? For The Cat's Pajamas, Black Friday starts on Tuesday and ends on Monday. From Tuesday, November 23 through Monday, November 27 we'll give all orders shipped in the US FREE Shipping. That's right FREE Shipping for almost a whole week. And if you live outside the US, shipping will be only $3.oo to ship your whole order.

Tonight is our New Release party on Splitcoast Stampers and then we'll kick off our New Release HOP beginning at midnight. Hope to see you there. Don't forget to add the the CutUps Pennants to your order, you KNOW you need them!

TCP Sneak Peek Week - Your Gift

Tonight's the night! All the new stamps and accessories from The Cat's Pajamas will be released this evening! And check it out ----
For The Cat's Pajamas, Black Friday starts on Tuesday and ends on Monday. From Tuesday, November 23 through Monday, November 27 we'll give all orders shipped in the US FREE Shipping. That's right FREE Shipping for almost a whole week. And if you live outside the US, shipping will be only $3.oo to ship your whole order.

So.....be sure to buy some stamps and CutUps for Santa to fill your stocking with, or if you have a good stamping buddy, now's the perfect time to grab a little somethin' somethin'!

Our new release party will be TONIGHT on Splitcoast Stampers - right here on THIS thread. Be sure to join Alma and the Design Team for Sneak Peeks and Surprises (um, can you say give-aways?!?) I've got another preview for you today, using the teeny, tiny bunny from the Mew Paper Arts line in Your Gift


Is it just me or is he ever adorable climbing the tree to put the star on top. In my house, this will be me, climbing the tree placing the decorations. My husband isn't a fan of decorating the tree, and my kids will help for about 15-30 minutes before they get bored. The best part, admiring the tree once fully lit with a cup of coffee and all the other lights in the house out.

Be sure to check Alma's blog to see who else is sampling today. Its always so fun to see how everyone else puts the new stamps into action! Hope to see YOU tonight!

Sweet and PC Christmas

I'm once again combining my Sweet Sunday Sketch sample along with a The Cat's Pajamas Preview, because its just not *right* to have new stamps and not share them! *giggle*

So today, meet P.C. Christmas . with the Politically Correct Santa that is. Instead of having his reindeer haul him all over the planet, he's got a nifty Santa powered glider - no animal cruelty, no mess, and maybe even a sleeker Santa by the end of the night too - oh, boy I crack myself up eh?

I was thinking of a canvas sail for his glider - thus my neutral tones. I think its old school meets green technology -- right? This will be the perfect card for my green lovin' husband ....


Patterned paper you will most likely recognize from me by now, it is The Girls Paperie Twig and Tinsel and I added an embossed panel of Kraft using one of my Cuttlebug folders. You'll see that I cheated (...again...) with the sketch and used a main panel oval instead of a circle...

If you haven't bought any Divine Twine yet from The Cat's Pajamas, I'm telling you go grab yourself some! Between black and red - I tell you, they go with *everything* and have been a huge hit at my recent stamping classes.

Now, be sure to visit Karen at The Sweetest Thing to see what she's whipped up for this week's sketch, and you'll find samples by all of my sweet, and oh so very talented friends on the Sweet Sunday Sketch team:

• Karen Giron
  
• Jennifer Tapler
• Karen Motz
  
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale (I think is off this week, but leave her lovely blog some love!)
  
• Vicki Burdick

The Cat's Pajamas: Sneak Peek Week - Define Good

You've meet the The Cat's Pajamas Penguins, Sprinkle, Poochie and our dear friend PJ the Bear. But have you met the long eared sweet bunny which was part of our last two most recent releases? Actually, now that I write this.... don't think this guy has a name yet.... any ideas?

All I know is that he's apparently been very, very good with this giant pile of presents! I've added shiny Glitzy bows to each of the packages.... I wanted to show off the fabulous new The Cat's Pajamas CutUps die. This lacy, snowflake is just beautiful, and a few of the girls on the team have actually even used it for embossing. Amazing! Again, I have to say I LOVE the versatility of these dies.

I've finished my snowflake off with a button and a bit of Divine Twine - and yes, another peek at the Apron CutUps - those loops are such a fun design element that I've loved tucking into nearly all my TCP projects this last week!

I'll be back on Sunday with a peek at a fun new Santa set from The Cat's Pajamas. Alma has already done a little peek here and I'll have my version on Sunday as part of my Sweet Sunday Sketch post!

Don't forget that Alma and the Cat Pack will be partying over on the Splitcoast Member Company Forum and we so hope you'll join us. Let me just say that there will be PRIZES involved and sneak peeks too!

The Cat's Pajamas: Sneak Peek Week

Morning everyone! The fun of The Cat's Pajamas Sneaky Peek Week continues every day through next Monday! Fun times right?? Up today is Merry Wishes from the new Ou Ou Illustration line. Aren't these kidlets super cute?

As you can see, I'm still loving this red, cream and black color combination and this amazing paper from The Girls Paperie. And yes, a peek at another CutUps Die too! This one is called "Icing"

I love the open lines on this series of stamps, its perfect whether you love to color, or like me, love to paper piece. The tiny heart in her hands was given a few rounds of Glaze Pen for a little extra shine. I love that this set is perfect for a sweet holiday card, but will still be useful all winter through - Valentines anyone?


The layout for this little lady is a sketch is courtesy of Jen Del Muro from a few weeks ago and found here. Be sure to check Alma's Blog every day to see who on the Design Team will have previews for you. How's that shopping list coming for the release? *wink* Be sure to come and chat with us on our Splitcoast Stampers Member Company Forum! Remember, new stamps and accessories are being previewed each day from now till our release on Monday, November 22nd!

The Cat's Pajamas: Sneak Peek Week

Today I am sampling for two new stamp sets from the Ou Ou Illustration line over at The Cat's Pajamas. I love this pair of cuties with their hot cocoa mugs.

Up first is "I like you a latte" which I've paired with the negative of the Apron CutUps border. Don't you love when you find that the negative space a diecut creates is also equally fun? I think its like an oversized spiral edge, right? You'll also find another CutUps shape on the bottom of my card....don't you just love that bracket?

The patterned paper I've used here is Basic Grey Jovial - filled with lots of "classic Christmas" patterns.

Now for the girlish stamp set titled "You Suit Me" I love her pigtails, bows and that adorable long scarf. Side note, can you believe I didn't paper piece either of these projects? ....I can't either....

On this card, I left the new CutUps die cut on a wider width of paper, not just the loopy edge. I'm all about versatility in my dies. This is a former Mojo Monday sketch that I modified to add in a sentiment flag. For this card, I went with the "whimsical Christmas" feel using patterned paper from Snow Day from Crate Paper.


I've used Divine Twine on both of my projects today. If you haven't grabbed any Divine Twine yet, you really DO need to remedy that with your next order from That Cat's Pajamas. Its amazing, and I seem to use the black, or the red on just about everything lately....

Be sure to visit Alma's Blog each day for a listing of the designers who will be showcasing sets as part of Sneaky Peek Week! Don't forget the new stamps and accessories will be available on Monday, November 22nd with a New Release Party on our Member Company Forum on Splitcoast Stampers!

TCP Sneak Peek Week - Snowflake Girl

I hope you're ready for LOTS and LOTS of The Cat's Pajamas postings! Us "Cat Packers" will be sharing new TCP creations with you every day between now and next Monday. How fun is THAT?

Today I have a little Snowflake Girl creation to share with you. I'm all about scarves already, in fact, my five year old told me that he's buying me another one for Christmas. I'll act surprised, really I will. And eeks, how cute are her little Mary Janes? I reached for a former Sketch for You to Try from my fellow Cat Packer Jen. I will say, Jen's layouts are always a go to for me.

I used paper from Basic Grey Jovial for both my layers, and for my paper piecing too. You'll see that I've some stitching only selectively my project - its a new "thing" and I'm liking it. And, you eagle eyes will find one of the latest CutUps dies! It is an amazing border accent for your layers.

Be sure to check Alma's Blog each day to see who has previews for you! Hope you're ready for a FUN and ahem, super cute week!

Sweet Sunday - Jingle Bells

Good morning! Today I've got another preview at an upcoming stamp set from The Cat's Pajamas. In fact, be ready because Sneak Peek Week begins tomorrow and you're going to have previews from Design Team members every day for the next week before the new release!
Did I mention that I LOVE Sneak Peek Week!


Today I'm pairing Jingle Bells with this weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch. In place of the adornment on the sketch, I'm having her scarf come out of the box a little bit. Shh. Its sort of cheating, don't tell on me okay?


The stamp set includes a trio of jingle bells that I'm sure would be amazing for stamping your own patterns - but today I cut one out, colored it grey and then coated it in Diamond Glaze. Admission.... I am just simply terrible at that stamp your own paper thing....

This pattered paper is Jovial from Basic Grey. I usually veer away from patterned papers with images versus patterns, but I think these snowmen are adorable... right? Do you see they have glasses. ACK! Too cute for words......

Be sure to hop around to visit all the girls on the Sweet Sunday Sketch team. I'm sure that they were all good and didn't cheat on that embellishment. But I had new stamps, and I couldn't resist the urge to share with you!

I'm off to enjoy a cup of coffee and check out what they've all made, I sure hope you'll join me.

• Karen Giron
  
• Jennifer Tapler
• Karen Motz
  
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale
• Vicki Burdick

The Cat's Pajamas:

I'm a day late for this week's The Cat's Pajamas TCP Tuesday challenge, but my hope is that you'll forgive me when you find out that I've brought a SNEAK PEEK!

This week Alma has created a fun sketch for our weekly challenge, and it opens the possibilities for LOTS of different The Cat's Pajamas images!

New stamps and accessories are coming to The Cat's Pajamas soon, and if you've been reading here a while, you may already know that I really adore the TCP Penguins! So, when I saw the sketch that Alma drew up this week, I was THRILLED to have an excuse to ink these new penguins!

As I often do, I paper pieced the scene including a fun paper pieced fireplace, custom stockings hung by the fire, and a gift wrapped present. I popped the mantle up on boosters for a little extra added dimension...

Be sure to join Alma and all the girls on The Cat Pack over on this forum for chit chat and my guess is... even more previews too! HOORAY!

And of course, we hope that you'll play along in our sketch challenge this week - here are the details:

1. Each a week one of The Cat’s Pajamas DT members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, technique, color, theme, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
4. Link to your post using the Inlinkz button at the bottom of ALMA's blog.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. Only designs posted to the blog will be considered for the Swanky Stamper.
8. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.