Beary Sweet - TCP Tuesday and a Beary Good Contest!

Welcome to this week's TCP Tuesday. Leigh is our fantastic hostess this week, and she's issued a sketch challenge.

I of course, had to take a teeny bit of liberty, and add some pleated ribbon trim in place of the scallops. I seriously couldn't help myself. The ribbon was staring me down from the desktop saying "Pick me!" and so, the scallop punch stayed on the shelf, and the ribbon got stitched onto the card....

You eagle eyes might notice that this is a NEW stamp set "A Beary Good Year" from The Cat's Pajamas. That dear sweet bear now has a set all of his own. Or is it her own? Well guess what, you all get to decide!

Alma is issuing "A Beary Good Contest" to find that out. We're asking YOU all to name that bear! And the lucky winner, will win every stamp set that TCP puts out in the coming year. Seriously!

You'll find all the contest details on Alma's blog - but get your thinking caps on and name that bear!

Only one entry per email and entries will be accepted for approximately 2 weeks. From January 26th through February 8. In the event that the winning name has been submitted by more than one player, the winner of the grand prize will be selected at random from that group (the other players who suggested the name will receive the stamp set "A Beary Good Year"!)

Send your entry to contest@thecatspajamasrs.com

Be sure to hop around to visit all the girls in The Cat Pack this week for some eye candy featuring the upcoming set which will be available for sale on February 9th - which is

by the way, when Alma will announce the contest winner! And I hope you're so inspired by this sweet sketch that you'll play along with us this week.

Get stamping and add your sketchy sample to the guestbook on Alma's blog. Between new glitter, new ribbon, new buttons and this fantastic new stamp set, come on - you know you want a chance to win some Cat's Cash!!

Chitter Chatter and a little eye candy

Wow, is blogland ever a ghost town or what this week? I will say though that it has been so fun to see everyone popping up on Facebook with their updates, and I've seen quite a few products that I'm antsy to pick up. What is your favorite so far?

This morning, I bit the bullet and placed an order for some new Valentines paper because I figured you were probably TIRED of seeing the same old paper from me over and over again. Truth be told, I was feeling a little uninspired and needed something fresh to work with. I placed an order with Jacksonbelle Embellishments and had a quick email chat with Lindsey, because I goofed and only ordered one of each piece of patterned paper when clearly I need two. (If I only have one, I'm always nervous to cut into it. If I have two, then I can safely dig in...) Can I just say, she's lovely! I'm really excited for my new paper to arrive!!

I've been busy working on samples for tomorrow's TCP Tuesday, as well as a video for MFT for Wednesday. Now I've got to get cracking on my sample for this week's Bellariffic Friday - don't forget, this week's challenge is Birthday!

As promised, today I really do have a little eye candy for you today. This card is made with my October Unity Kit of the month, yes it is almost February, and yes, I know that means these stamps sat around a long time. (...embarassed...) I just love this sweet little church! I added Crystal Effects to the heart on the door and the heart within the sentiment for a little extra POP!

Today it is raining and windy and just terrible. Looking forward to getting home from my son's gym class later today so that I can make a big cup of coffee and get rolling on that Birthday Card for Friday. Have a wonderful day!

I know I promised eye candy today, but I've been busy working on a video for this week's Wednesday Stamp Club for My Favorite Things.

I've also got something big in the works, that I'm very excited about. In case you didn't see my appeal to you yesterday, you can watch it here

In the meantime, I'll ask again. What can you do to help Haiti today? This is what my seven year old has to contribute directly out of his piggy bank. (I'm back with an update, the little guy had over $10 once we counted it all out! Proud Mama moment here.....)

Remember every little bit counts. Please help. I'm loving reading reader comments about what you've been able to do to help the people of Haiti. Keep them coming!

You can read more about the charity that we're going to send our donations to here:

The Haitian Project

Won't you please help?

No pretty pictures today, no new products to share... just asking for your help. We've selected a charity that's right for our family, and there are so many ways to give. Please do whatever you can today to help, with whatever charity is right for your family. As my seven year old likes to say "Never put off until tomorrow...."

Thank you so much. I'm loving reader comments from those of you that have already taken action. Keep them coming. I know that stampers are some of the most wonderful people, and that together, we can make a difference.

(Pretty pictures will resume tomorrow!)

Get twinched!

This week's Bellariffic Challenge for Stamping Bella is to get twinched! And for anyone that doesn't have the actual twinchie product, a 2 inch square panel works just fine too!

I'm excited to see what everyone else was able to fit on a twinch, I was thrilled that my little "head over heels" bug was such a perfect fit!

After coloring her all in with my Copics, I added stickles to her wings for a little shine.

I was thrilled to find a bit more BeLoved from My Minds Eye in my stash o' paper. I can't believe I haven't used it all up yet, but I'm very very close.

All these Valentine cards are making me SO happy! Be sure to head on over to Blogabella to see all the samples from my friends the Bellariffic Babes, as well as all of YOU who submitted this week. Don't forget, that Bella Bucks are awarded at random to one person just for commenting!

Next week - the challenge is to create a birthday card. I don't know about you, but I always need them, and just never have them on hand.

Lookin for Mojo.....

It all began with a scary case of loss of mojo..... I sat down to work, and had nothing. No place to start. And then, I lost a good hour or so "blurfing" around through my google reader. You've been there right?

And then, I drooled over the beautiful samples on Mojo Monday this week. And loved the sketch. Which turned into a hunt for a stamp that fit the sketch.

Which turned into organizing my Bella stamps into their Bella Bindahs. Which turned into buying a new Bindah (I have two that are full.. eesh) and some new storage pockets. Yes. You need them too.

And then, I placed an order for a few of the newest stamps (Eloise is in Love,& Olivia) and picked up a few more Hugabuggs because I'm now addicted to them (Fluey Hugabugg, & Luna the Moth)

In my cleanup, I also discovered that there is a Turtle Tot that I didn't buy yet. So I did. I know, right? A Turtle Tot that I didn't own? That's just crazy talk.

And then at last, I sat down to work on the Mojo Sketch using BeeeMine - I love this stamp, and you might just see it a few more times between now and Feb 14th! But duh, I didn't print it. I tried to just work from memory. (Bad call. Memory, um, not so much.) Once I realized that I had totally fouled up the panel sizes, I decided that I'd gone so far astray that I'd just add another panel, and skip the sentiment.

And lo, and behold. Hello sweet little card - I think I love you!

Don't forget that this week's challenge for Bellariffic Friday is "Twinchies" - if you've got Twinchies, we'd love to see them in your project, or else you can simply use a 2" panel on your project! Samples are due to Emily by Thursday at 5pm EST.

Get some "Lovin' from the Oven"

I am over the moon with excitement about the upcoming Who's That Girl stamp from My Favorite Things. She's called Lovin' From the Oven, and seriously I love it because it combines two things that I just love, cooking and stamping too!!

Tonight several of us on the MFT Design Team have samples of this fabulous new set for you. If you haven't hoped on following links from Kim's Blog you'll want to start over from the top so you don't miss any of the eye candy that's awaiting you!

Today only, you can purchase "Lovin from the Oven" which available as part of MFT's VIP Collection including:

• Lovin’ from the Oven Stamp Set
• Bakery Blend Buttons
• Bakery Blend Ribbons
• Sugar Glass Glitter
• Sakura Clear Glaze Pen
• Plus receive a FREE Clearly Sentimental about Food stamp set

The VIP Collection is a one day offering that allows you to get your hands on the upcoming Who's That Girl stamp set along with a fantastic bundle of products at a fantastic price! (Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on that ribbon bundle and buttons too!) After today, you won't be able to pick up this fabulous stamp set till its official release on February 3rd!

Now that I've shared the details on the bundle... who's ready to see my project?

Last year, I discovered that I really, really enjoy cooking. Who knew? Certainly not me. But, over the course of the last year, I've committed to looking at cooking as an enjoyable activity, rather than a "chore" to be done.

I'm often working from recipes that I've discovered online, which means having my laptop right next to the stove. And lets face it, I'm clumsy, so that's not really a great idea. I'm always worried that I'll spill something. So, I decided, to combine my new found love of cooking, with my longtime love of stamping, and swap out my current (not cute) recipe box with something I'll love using!

I popped right over to my LSS to pick up the Bare Elements Recipe Box. Its an oversized box, and its perfect! (It comes with dividers inside, which I'm working on, but with two sickies in the house, I didn't get as far as I'd hoped this week.)

The oustide of the box is covered with a few sheets of 12x12 paper from the Basic Grey Nook and Pantry collection as well as a sheet of Bo Bunny Double Dot paper. I've used MFT's Snow Cone and Hot Fudge cardstocks, and my beloved Kraft cardstock too.

The box has less layers and "stuff" than I usually add to a project, but as this is going to be countertop in my kitchen, I didn't want layers that would collect dust, or possibly fall off get ragged etc. As soon as my order from MFT arrives, I will however be adding a little button cluster from the Bakery Blend!

All the paper piecing was done with the Nook and Pantry 6x6 pad. I love piecing with these smaller sized patterns, just the right scale! I sponged each piece of her dress to give some added dimension then glued each layer in place. Once the little piece was finished, I gave it a nice coat of Multi Medium to protect it.

I used my Maya Road chipboard letters to spell out the word "recipes" for the front of the box. I hope you'll forgive me if it seems lazy, but I love the look of naked chipboard against the dark chocolate polka dot.

So, I gave them a nice protective coat of Multi Medium from Claudine Helmuth's line and then adhered them in place. This will protect them from grease stains and splatter from being kitchen top and all.

After I'd added the Multi Medium to the letters, I decided that coating the entire box was a good idea, to protect from dust, splatters and just life in general.

Once everyone is healthy, and I've unburried myself from the mountain of laundry, I'll get back to work on the insides of the recipe box, and show you a recipe card I've been working on. I'm so excited about this project, too bad LIFE got in the way of my stamping plans! LOL!

Hey Honey!

I hope you all got a chance to hop through the girls cards for the release of four new Kitty Cat packs at The Cat's Pajamas last night. The Cat Pack had so many great cards, I'm so honored to be on a team with such rockstars!If you're looking for the TCP Blog hop just scroll down a bit, its here....

But truth be told, I wasn't digging my own card. You know how you have those moments when you post that you think, WHAT IS THIS?

And, I wanted to show my love for the stamps, so I started fresh today, using Hearts and Fowers, as well as some fun scraps I had on my desk. Sometimes, you just need to start again. And let that other card go. And I'm okay admitting that!

And besides, this project shows the gorgeous new wide width ribbon that Alma has added to the Embellies section of the store. It is available in Black, Red, Pink and Green. For this card, I tacked it into a ruffly bunch with my adhesive, then stitched it into place.

I also added the new red Glitzy to the petals of my flower for a little shine, and also, yes, because "Hello, my name is Joanne, and I'm addicted to Glitzy!"

Susan is our hostess for this week's TCP Tuesday and I do SO hope you'll play along for your chance to get swanky! You'll find all the details, over at Susie's place.

Feeling much better about today's project... hope you all have a GREAT day and thanks for stopping by!

Nothin' but a Glitzy Glitter Love Monkey

I've been home today with a sick little boy and a sick hubby too, so my post today is going to be super quick....

The Cat Pack has lots of eye candy for you tonight featuring four new Kitty Cat Packs from The Cat's Pajamas. This value packed product set contains your choice of one of these four stamp sets:

Be Still My beating Heart
Loving Mew
Puppy Love
Hearts and Flowers

along with the Sweet Thing Button Assortment and Glitzy Glitter! The button assortment is truly delicious with all the shades you'll need for your valentine cardmaking.... and glitzy. Um? Need I say more? I think you know how I feel about the Glitzy - I love it!

If you didn't start up at Susan's place, be sure to pop over to visit her so you don't miss anything along the way!

I used Hearts and Flowers for my card tonight, and loaded that heart shape up with the bright pink glitzy.

Now, be sure to head on over to visit Tracy - the next stop on our hop tonight. Me, I'm back to cleaning up after the sickies patrol. bleech. Have, fun, go shopping to cheer me up okay? *giggle*

Dinner Time Calendars

Last night, I attended a little ladies night out with the girls, to celebrate for a dear friend who is expecting her third child. The hostess had a fun idea to put together a little calendar - and we could all sign up for a night to bring dinner to the family.

And of course, my MFT templates were just perfect for the job! Since the the gender of the new baby is a surprise... I thought it would be fun to have one Pink calendar, and one Blue calendar.

I printed the large sized template onto white cardstock and then trimmed off just outside the borders. Since I happen to have sort of a ridiculous stash of patterned papers it wasn't hard to pull a few

pieces that were just right for the project.

Since I didn't need the "notes" section for this project, I used that little section for an added swatch of patterned paper, and I created a flower bloom with a paper punch, a twine threaded

button, and a paper curlie-que and some punched leaves. In my little closeup shot, you can see that I stitched all the edges, and then gave a dabber with my vintage distress inks to soften all the edges.

For both calendars, I stamped the name of the month with the "Make the Date" stamp set, and then I stamped out the word "Dinner" with

the "Alpha Dot" stamp set.

Its a great set for custom, quick sentiments. I punched the letters themselves out with a 3/4" punch, and then added a matting with a 1" punch. Easy peasy!

For the March calendar, I used a little baby boy theme with the October Afternoon "Ducks in a Row" paper. Again, who knows what the baby will be... I can't wait to find out!

I kept the layout the same to streamline my production. The Alpha Dots were stamped in Soft Sky ink. Instead of my little flower treatment, I used a set of chipboard alphas to spell out baby.

After I finished the calendars, I backed them each with a piece of chipboard (You know you'll often find a lightweight piece inside your 12x12 patterned paper packs.) Then I added a large piece of magnet to each calendar so that my friend can hang them on her fridge and know who's delivering the goods for the first month with the new baby.

I think that these dinner calendars would also be amazing for anyone who likes to plan out the family menu in advance for shopping or dieting purposes!

So, now that I've got the calendars finished, I've just got to figure out some good casseroles for the THREE women I know who are expecting a new babies during the month of February!! Any ideas??

Beloved Blog Candy winner and Eye Candy too!

I hope you all had a fantastic time playing along with my Beloved Challenge this week! I've loved checking out all your projects as they come in. I'm actually working on another watercoloring piece, but you'll have to wait till MFT's February release to see it (I know, so mean!!)

The winner, as selected by Random.org was #11 - Sharon Holden's sweet Pure Innocence Creation found here. Sharon, I'm sending you a PM through Splitcoast for your mailing address so I can get your prize package on the way!!

There were so many beautiful pieces that you submitted, and I'm just thrilled! Here are a few of my favorite pieces of eye candy for you to look at today! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

clipped from easilyamused-chrisv.blogspot.com

clipped from mylittlecreativeescape.blogspot.com

clipped from stampinghappy.blogspot.com

clipped from cardsbykerry.blogspot.com

clipped from happinessisus.blogspot.com

Beloved Blog Candy Grows!

Just a little reminder about my open challenge here on the bloggity! And because its Friday - how about I sweeten the prize a little too! Today, I'm adding a $20 gift certificate to MFT Stamps.

I already have the February release in my hot little hands - and there are some *amazing* stamps being added to the lineup. Trust me when I tell you another $20 in shopping money would come in HANDY!

Just to clarify, you don't have to use all the things I've listed on the challenge, any ONE of them will qualify you for the prize. You can choose from:

• Watercoloring
• MFT's Pure Innocence
• MFT's Bling Bet
• Beloved Paper from MME
• Pearls
• Machine Sewing

There are also no vendor restrictions on your project, use whatever YOU have to play along! To enter, add your creation to my Mr Linky box on THIS post. The challenge will be open for one week - entries should be submitted by Sunday, January 17th at 9pm EST. At that time, the Mr Linky widget will close to entries.

Brie mine

Good morning everyone!! Did you know that Stamping Bella is having a little Valentine Release today? I'm so excited to see what goodness Emily has to share with us today.

I've got a little peek of a sweet little friend called "Eunice" today, and its just perfect for my little guy -

I laugh that he's part mouse himself because he could seriously live on cheese. He's convinced the moon is made of it, and that he and his Auntie are headed there to eat it up. I seriously might GIVE him cheese for Valentines (especially as he's allergic to most candy anyways...)

Each week at the supermarket, we leave the deli, and his piece of provolone for the very last, because if he's not behaved at the store... no cheese.

Today I'm what he calls the "Stay Mom" at his little preschool, so I've got to keep this short and sweet... be sure to stop by Blogabella to see all the creations from the Babes, as well as anyone that played along with the Lovey Dovey theme this week. Of course, you won't want to miss out on seeing all the newly released stamps! I can't wait to go shopping myself. Save me some goodies okay??

Next week, - the challenge is to get twinched! You'll either want to pull out your Twinchies, or if you don't have any, just use a 2" square panel as your focal point in your creation! I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Meet Lovey Hugabugg!

I do surely hope that I haven't bored you to tears with this Beloved paper yet, because I'm still so very in love with it!

And yes, I haven't quite yet been able to walk away from my watercoloring... but ***gasp** I'm down to one piece of watercolor paper, so I'm going to have to let go soon.

**Don't forget that I'm running a challenge with Blog Candy right now - you'll find all the details here - I'm using both the Beloved Paper and watercoloring here on my project! Since nobody has decided to play along yet, maybe I need to up the ante. I'm going to add a pack of Beloved paper... who knows what else.... stay tuned!**

This week's theme for Bellariffic Friday is Lovey Dovey - and guess why... Stamping Bella is going to have a Valentines Release on Friday!

I'm thrilled about all of this news, because obviously that's the sort of stampy theme I've been enjoying lately! Be sure to send your Lovey Dovey Stamping Bella samples to Emily by Thursday at 5pm EST. You can read all the details on this post.

I used the Mojo Monday 121 Sketch from this week, its been too long since I'd played along. And the sketch this week was JUST right for my Lovey Hugabugg. Have you seen the full line of Hugabuggs yet? I think they are just soooooo cute!

My new best friend a.k.a. sewing machine got a workout on this card, and I'll just say that sewing around the rounded corners of the panel proved more difficult than sewing around an entire circle... who knew? Oh well...

For the circular embellishment in the sketch, I reached for my new pack of Maya Road chipboard, fun stuff! I covered it with patterned paper, then sanded all the edges and gave each piece a heavy coat of Crackle Accents. I was worried I'd hate the crackle once it was done, but I ended up loving it.

Don't forget to add your card to this week's roundup for Stamping Bella, after all, she'll be giving away Bella bucks, and didn't I just mention a new release! Now, Get Stamping!!

TCP Tuesday - Welcoming Baby del Muro!

Good morning everyone and welcome to this week's TCP Tuesday! This week, we're celebrating with a little color combination in honor of the arrival of Jen's baby boy - Nicholas del Muro!

Today we're going to run our normal TCP Tuesday as a blog hop, so once you're done here, please be sure to stop by and visit Ana - the next stop on the hop!

Our super sleuth, Susie, knew what bedding Jen had selected, so all the girls on the team have drawn inspiration from it for our cards today.

To play along, all you need to do is create a card using these colors Kraft, Baby Blue and Chocolate.

I did a little stamp combination thing this week using the adorable little bear from Happy Camper, the cupcake from Loving Mew and both the Coolvetica and Nightie alphabets. Ohhhh, its fun to have tons of stamps so you can mix and match!

Do you like the mini banner that I made for "welcome? " It was SO fun to do and I got to dig into my hardware kit from WeR Memory Keepers.

For your chance to be named the Swanky Stamper of the month (which comes with $25 in Cat's Cash!) all you need to do is upload your creation to the Guestbook on Alma's blog by the end of the month!

I'm going to leave you with the rules for the challenge, but let me just remind you that Ana is the very next stop on the hop! I love her sweet stamping style and I can't wait to see what she's come up with today! I'll meet you there!

Here are the deets for the challenge.
1. Each a week one of The Cat’s Pajamas DT members will host a challenge. (This week, its ME!)
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, techinque, color, theme, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
4. Post your design to the guestbook on Alma's blog. Your design must be uploaded to the guestbook to be considered.
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 guestbook 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.