Shopping and Bees!

Happy Monday everyone!!

This is my second post for today so keep scrolling for a contest opportunity.

Ahh, it was such a nice weekend. Sorry I didn't blog, but Jason, Izzy and I had such a relaxing and productive weekend, I didn't have time. We went out to dinner on Friday night at this really nice family restaurant on historic Main Street in St. Charles. Then Saturday, Jason was able to do some gardening. He love, love, loves to garden and this was the first year that he has been able to really do it with Izzy. Of course the two of them had the best time following each other around and playing in the dirt. Don't know which one loves it more! LOL! Then yesterday, Izzy and I stamped all day while Daddy installed my new light over the kitchen sink! Yay!! Okay so technically it is not a new light seeing as how we have had it for almost a year but this is the first time it was installed!! Now I can see while Jason is cooking dinner!

Like I said I was able to get a lot of stamping done this weekend and even made several cards. Most of them are for some up coming releases so it feels good to have those completed. I can't wait to show you them!!

Well can I tell you how excited I was last week to see that there was a challenge going on at Club Anya and, and, and it was a sketch challenge!!!!!! OMGoodness, I was literally bouncing up and down! I get so excited when I see sketch challenges, they just bring a glow to my heart! And boy was this a fun one!!! It just screamed long card to me! I know, pretty obvious when you look at the sketch, but long cards aren't something I typically make and guess what!!! I actually made two cards for this!! Here is my first creation.



So I just love, love, love these Miss Anya stamps! They are just so fun and sassy and of course the are long and tall. Perfect for what I had in mind! And to top it all off one of them has curly hair! Yippee! So I like to think this one was me when I was a teenager. Of course she is way taller than I was and her curls are much more controlled than mine have ever been but other than that, this is a pretty good representation. LOL! I started this card by stamping Miss Anya from The Greeting Farm on white card stock and then drew in the background of store buildings and the street with a ruler and my copic multiliner. I cut out a half circle of white card stock using my nesties and continued my street onto it, coloring in the whole background with my copics. Following the sketch, I layered on green, blue and orange card stock along with the front and back side of a piece of SP from KI Memories. To create the sentiment, which I really wanted to look like a store sign, I simply typed it up on my computer and printed it off. I then popped it off with my main image and added a little ribbon to the corner. I think this would make the perfect card for a friend who loves to shop. Luckily I have said friend! LOL!

Now for my second card using this sketch, I decided to use my brand new fairy stamps from The Greeting Farm. As soon as I got them in the mail I just had to ink them up! They are too, too cute!!! Well and since Izzy loves bees, I wanted to create a card with her in mind.


Don't know why I thought the circle at the bottom would make a great bee hive, but it turned out relatively well! I started this card off by stamping Fairy Tink, Fairy Chloe, and Fairy Eva by The Greeting Farm and then colored them in with my copics. I cut each one out and set them to the side. Following the sketch, I layered on black, teal and yellow card stock along with DP from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie. To create the bee hive I cut strips of yellow card stock and rounded off the ends at descending lengths. I sponged on creamy caramel over the strips to make them looked aged and then mounted them on some black card stock. I followed he same process to make the opening. To complete the card, I mounted my three "bees" so that they would look like they were flying out of the hive, stamped my sentiment from the All About Argyle set from SU! (I masked off the G in "gee" and hand drew in a b), and added my spiral clip and ribbon. I really like the dark rich colors! I can hardly wait to see what everyone else comes up with. I have already seen some amazing creations and the contest doesn't even end until Saturday, March 14th at 11:59 CST!! So get yours in!!!

And speaking of awesome creations over at Club Anya, this week kicks off Team Roster Stats! Today's featured MVP is none other than my girl Jacquie Peifer!!! So be sure to swing by and give her a high five!!

Well that is it for me today! Thank you so much for stopping by! I always have fun!! Smiles!

New Pink Cat Contest!!!

Happy Monday everyone!

Just wanted to give you a heads up about a contest going on now over at Pink Cat Studio!!! Here are the details!!!

This month we are celebrating the arrival of a new baby at Pink Cat Studio!!! I need your help in choosing a name for this cutie patootie! This sweet little baby can be either a boy or a girl so we need to choose a name that would suit either one. So a nickname would work well. When I was little my Mom used to call me Pumpkin :) So think about the sweet nicknames that you call the little ones in your life or what your parents used to call you.

To enter the contest, leave a comment in this post with your idea for a name. If you like a name that has already been mentioned in the comments then please write that in your post too. A random winner will be selected from everyone who leaves a comment so the winner will not be chosen based on the name they suggest. The winner will receive her choice of one Pink Cat Studio stamp set.

This contest ends on Friday March 13th and the winner will be announced on Sunday March 15th. Thanks for playing and for your help in choosing a name!!

Our March new release will take place on Thursday the 26th with sneak peeks starting on the 24th. This month Melissa has 2 new stamp sets to show you. Both of them feature our new cutie patootie baby. One is a dress up set along the lines of the Dress Up Lily & Billy sets. This set is so much fun to play with! You can make either a boy or a girl baby and dress them up in cute clothes, hats and costumes. The second stamp set has 4 large super cute stamps that are ready to colour. These 2 stamp sets are perfect for making, baby, birthday and just saying ‘hi’ cards as well as gifts and scrapbook pages. We can’t wait to show them to you starting on March 24th.

Birthday Balloons!!!

Happy Friday everyone!

Another week down! Can hardly believe it! How time flies!! I am feeling a lot better. thank you to all of you who sent well wishes, I really appreciate it. I am just tired now. Jason is still sick, poor thing but has been going to work. I feel so bad for him because his birthday is tomorrow. He is turning the big 30!! And supportive wife that I am, I am so excited because now I get to tease him for the next three months about how he is married to a younger woman and I am his trophy wife!!! LOL!

Well Izzy is about 80% back to normal. She feels okay and is getting around like usual but is still congested. I feel bad for her, but it sounds like it is getting better! She actually played outside pretty much all day yesterday. It was so beautiful and today is supposed to be more of the same so I hope she can get outside some more. We have a few errands to run so we will see. Yesterday she walked all around the back yard and threw sweet gumballs on the pool tarp. It makes a thunking sound every time one hits. I am sure Jason is going to be so happy to clean them all off! LOL! Here is a picture of her playing outside yesterday.


In honor of Jason's B-day tomorrow I decided to show you a birthday themed card I made. And get this!! I did not, I repeat not, use a sketch! I know! Wow! When you see it though, you'll notice that it really doesn't need a sketch, but still, it is step in the right direction, right?


Do you not love that image! So, so sweet! My good friend Jess was generous enough to let me stamp this adorable image up and take it home with me to color! As soon as I got back from my trip I had to color it up and make a card with it! I started this card by coloring Lily and Milo - Congratulations by Stampavie with my copic markers. I then cut them out along with pieces of blue, red, green and yellow card stock using my nesties. I ran the blue card stock through my swiss dots folder and the green card stock through the swirls folder. I then stamped my sentiment from an old SU! set called All Around Argyle and mounted it on my yellow card stock. For the card itself, I layered on red and blue card stock along with some DP from Basic Grey. To make them look like balloons, I cut out little tabs for the bottoms of the balloons, glued on some black thread for the strings and then tied them together with a little red bow. I liked how this turned out, but for some reason Jason said he didn't want this card for his birthday. He mentioned something about how it was too kiddish for him and that he would prefer a more grown up card. Gosh I have no idea why he would think this was more of a kids card. LOL! Oh well, guess I have to go back to the drawing board for his card!

Izzy and I are off to run some errands this morning and then to catch up on some blogs. I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!! Smiles!

Deer Friend!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Wow, this week has gone by lightening quick. I can hardly believe tomorrow is Friday. Well I am feeling better thank goodness. Still really tired and groggy but I actually stamped yesterday and picked up the house. So I think I am slowly getting back to normal. The bad news is, Jason is now sick. I feel bad for him because he still has to go to work. Today is supposed to be really nice outside so I am hoping that Izzy can get outside and play for awhile. I know she will just love it!

Well yesterday Izzy and I had a close to normal day. Only two baths for me and a little nap, but we were able to get reading in and a little bit of playtime. Izzy I think secretly likes it when I am sick because she gets to roll around in mommy and daddy's bed. I put her up there so I can rest and she just rolls around and crawls in and out of the covers. Of course Tuxy doesn't like it because he is under the covers trying to relax and Izzy is bothering him. I guess that is part of the joys of having a little sister. At least that is what I try to tell Tuxy! LOL!

Like I said I am feeling better but I only have one project to show again today. I am hoping I will be feeling up to par tomorrow and can get back on schedule. So this card is actually another card that I made using Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday Sketch. I just loved the layout so much I had to make another one! The clean and simple layout just called to me so I decided to create a card with my brand new Greeting Farm set!!



OMGoodness isn't that deer just the cutest! He reminds me of Bambi, one of my all time favorite Disney movies. Seriously when I opened the package in the mail it was all I could do not to ink it up right then. I figured though that I had to be a good mommy and actually feed my daughter lunch so I had to wait a half hour! LOL! Anywhoo, I have decided to go back to safe territory and make a layered, busy card, something I feel I can do! LOL! I started this card by stamping the deer from the new Forest Friends stamp set from The Greeting Farm on white card stock and colored him in using my copics. I drew in some grass with my multiliner pen and colored it in as well. Following the sketch, I layered on green and brown card stock along with some Kaiser paper I picked up last weekend at our girl's weekend. I then cut out a tree shape and some branches from a piece of brown card stock, sponged it with some chocolate chip ink and drew in bark with my copic marker. I popped it off the corner and added some little leaves I free handed out of green card stock. Next I stamped the sentiment on white card stock and mounted it on some green card stock I cut out using my nesties. To complete the card I punched out a butterfly from my Kaiser paper using a Martha Stewart punch. I just couldn't help myself. I love that scene where the butterfly lands on Bambi!

Well, sorry my post is so short, but I am hoping I will be back to normal tomorrow! Thanks so, so much for stopping by! Lots or smiles!

Lesson Learned!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I hope that you are having a good day! I am officially sick. I literally did nothing yesterday. No stamping, no reading, nothing. I laid on the couch and told Izzy to bring her books to me so we could look at the pictures. I took something like a million menthol baths and rubbed Izzy's vapo rub on my chest to loosen up the congestion. No go though. I think it is just one of those colds that is going to hang around for a couple of days.

That being said, I have a very quick and short post for you today!


As you know, today is Wednesday and that means it is Watchadoin' Wednesday over at Storage Units, Ink and More! This week's challenge is a really fun one it is to Bling It On! Basically use bling on your card! Super fun!

Okay so why am I having such a hard time! I mean I love bling, I would put it on everything if I could, but for some reason this was hard for me and I think that is because I really wanted to push my boundaries this time and create an elegant, clean and sophisticated card. I really wanted to play this week's Featured Stamper Challenge because the featured stamper Kelly_H has such a clean and elegant style that I wanted to see if I had it in me too. I picked out this absolutely stunning creation to case and then went to work.


Lesson learned! I cannot create clean, elegant cards. I don't know what it is. I tried to imitate her style but mine comes no where near to letting off the aura of sophistication that Kelly's does. Oh well. I guess I will just have to sit back and admire and be jealous of all those women who can create these stunning creations. LOL! Anywhoo, I started this card by stamping the Easter basket and eggs from Some Bunny Loves You by SUINK on white card stock and colored them in using my copics. I then cut them out and layered them on some glittery polka dot paper from Doodlebug and some green card stock. Following the inspiration card's layout, I layered on blue, green and yellow card stock. I stamped the sentiment also from the Some Bunny Loves You set and then pierced my paper with my piercing tool. To complete the card I added some more bling with the blue rhinestones I attached above the sentiment. I really think that if I did this again I might emboss my yellow card stock with an embossing folder or something. Or maybe I should just stick to what I do best! LOL! Oh well, it was still fun to try!

If you would like to participate in our Bling it On Challenge simply use the keyword SUINKWWC30 when uploading your creations to PCP or SCS. Now check out the other amazing creations from the DT girls!

• Alex Maldonado
• Amber Kroening
• Carolina Buchting
• Chat Wszelaki
• Colleen Wold
• Guest Designer for March...Cathleen Torina
• Kristen Catalano
• Laura Leonard
• Leigh O'Brien
• Mary Jo Price-Williams
• Suzanne Dean
• Tori Wild

Thanks for hanging in there with me today. Hopefully I will be feeling better and will actually get something accomplished today! Here is a parting snapshot of Izzy! That is chocolate on her face! LOL! Smiles everyone!

Some Very Exciting News for Me!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I hope you are having a good week so far! I have to say I am. I received some wonderful news yesterday!!! I am honored to say that I was chosen as one of the design team members for Club Anya!!! I can hardly believe it! Truly, I went through the gallery out at The Greeting Farm and after seeing all the amazing creations that were out there, I honestly don't know how they were able to make their decision. I am just so glad I didn't have to! LOL! I just feel so honored to be chosen. Here are all the other amazing ladies who were chosen for the team.

Jessica Diedrich, Club Anya VP

Jacquie Peifer

Kristine Moldenhauer Biseth

Traci Porter

We also have three wonderful guest designers!

Michelle Oatman March-May 2009

Joni Wilson June-July 2009

Rosette Camilleri August-September 2009

What amazing talent!

So it is also Tuesday and that means it is Twinkling Tuesday! I am so, so excited! You know how much I love my Twinkling Tuesdays! Well today is no exception. I love the fun, fun sketch that Madelynn came up with! The brads in the corners and the use of the ovals is just perfect! She is so amazing and to top it all off, my good friend Heather is this week's featured stamper! She has a great card in store for you! So without further ado, here is my Twinkling Tuesday card!

See what I mean about the amazing sketch! So versatile! I actually made two cards, but will only be showing one today! And in honor of my exciting news I decided to create an Ian card. How could I resist! I just love how cute he looks in his little sheriff's hat!! Anywhoo, I started this card by coloring up one of the adorable Sheriff Ian images by The Greeting Farm that I stamped up from my friend Jessica this weekend with my copics. She was kind enough to allow me to stamp up whatever I wanted. Well of course I grabbed this cutie and now I think I am going to have to get him! He is too, too adorable! Next, I mounted him on some red/brown card stock and green card stock I cut out using my nesties. Following Madelynn's sketch, I layered on red/brown card stock, brown card stock and some DP from We R Memory Keepers. I then cut out red/brown, brown and white stars using my Cricut and stamped "Howdy" using an alphabet set I picked up for a dollar at Michaels. To complete the card, I distressed everything with a sponge and close to cocoa ink, added brads in all the corners and to the points of the stars and finished the card by tying on a bow. I just love all things southwest and this card stock and adorable image just screams southwest!

Now it is time to checkout the rest of the awesome DT's creations! And before I forget, help me in welcoming Darla as our newest Twinkle Team member! She is new to blogging but not stamping and boy are her creations amazing!

• Bonnie Sharp
• Cassie Larson
• Christi Thorsen
• Danni Bindel
• Darla Wilson
• Debbie Lee
• Heather Schlatter
• Jacquie Peifer
• Jami Bova
• Jennifer Greco
• Jessica Diedrich
• Kim Ross
• Kimmie Doktor
• Rebecca Ednie
• Sandra McLean
• Taylor Usry

OMG, I almost forgot my Izzy story. Nothing too special happened yesterday. We are both under the weather still so there was a lot of laying around and snuggling. She did have a great time herding Tuxy toward the back door though. She kept asking me if he wanted to go outside. Nevermind it is only 30 degrees and Tuxy is a totally spoiled, indoor kind of dog. Oh I do have to say though that I have decided she is completely out to embarrass me! Yesterday I got her dressed and she was looking through all her clothes when she pulled out some little bottoms that go under her dress. She asked me to put them on her. And I am not talking about pulling jeans off and then putting on her undershorts, no, she wanted them over her jeans. She wore them the whole day like that. LOL! If she does it again today I am going to try to get a picture!

Well thank you all for stopping by and sharing in my news! It really means a lot to me! And I am still trying to catch up from the weekend, so if I haven't been to your blog, I am hoping to get that done today! Thanks for your support and lots of smiles!!!

A New Addiction!

Happy Monday everyone!!!

Sorry I have been gone all weekend. I had the privilege of meeting so really great friends this weekend up in Wisconsin!!!!! I was so, so excited and nervous at the same time! I swear it is like going on a blind date. You have talked on the phone a million times, but you still worry if they are going to like you, if you meet their expectations and if the conversation will still flow when you are sitting across from each other! Well let me tell you it was better than I even expected! I had a fantastic drive up, cold but sunny and then the hotel I stayed in was super nice! I can't wait to go back so I can try out the pool! Then of course the stamping time at Archivers flew by. At first I thought to myself, 6 hours seems like an awful long time. Hope I don't run out of things to do! But let me you it wasn't nearly long enough! I needed something like quadruple that amount of time!! I laughed so much and talked so much my stomach and voice actually hurt! It was just the best! I am so sorry to have it over! Of course now I am trying to convince Jason to get a transfer to Wisconsin so that we can all be closer!! Anywhoo her is a picture of the four of us (Jessica, Jenn and Heather) at the end of the night! Obviously I did not get the pink shirt memo! LOL!


The only down side to my trip was being away from Jason and Izzy all weekend! I am thinking that possibly we can do it again in May and that we could take a long weekend and make it a family thing. Also too, then I would have a little bit more time to hang out! LOL! I did get a report though that Izzy had a very good time with Daddy and that they ran errands and read a lot and played! Jason also cooked all her favorite foods and it sounds like she got away with a whole bunch of stuff she wouldn't have with mommy but hey that is what Daddy time is for right! LOL!

Now that I have bored you with my adventures this weekend, it is on to my card and my new addiction! So I have found that not only do I love sketches but I love to do the sketches designed by kids! Of course you know that I participate in Madelynn's sketches (she is only 8) but lately I have been getting some really great sketches from some of my other friends' kids!!! I just cannot believe the talent that is out there!! These kids come up with the most unusual and fun ideas and the best part is, it is such a challenge to incorporate all the elements!!

Well my good friend Heather, who had a crazy busy week last week, asked me to help her out with the Etsy Challenge she was issuing. She told me she was going to challenge everyone to make a card using her now 7 year old daughter Piper's sketch! I of course was in the moment I heard sketch!!! And boy was it a great one! Challenging but great! I just love all the different elements and layers!!!


Can you believe the talent this little girl has!!! Wow, wow, wow!!!! So I decided to color up this little gardening girl called Lida In The Garden from Papilio Stamps that I received as a RAK from my good friend Maria. She is just the sweetest and most talented person!! I really, really appreciate them! And boy are they fun to color! Anywhoo, I colored her in using my copics and then cut her out! Following Piper's sketch, I layered on orange, green and blue card stock along with some paper from Basic Grey's Off Beat collection. I cut out ovals using my nesties and ran my white piece through my Spots and Dots embossing folder and then sponged over it with pumpkin pie ink. To create the criss crosses, I criss crossed green with brown polka dot ribbon and some twine (I am so addicted to my twine lately!). I then tied bows in the corners and attached two gardening charms to make the darkened in portions on the sketch. I added some black rhinestones to each side but ran out of room to add them to the top. To finish the card, I stamped my sentiment from Rock the Farm by The Greeting Farm to the lower right hand corner and sponged over it with my pumpkin pie ink! I just love the fun feel to this card!

Well that is it for me today!!! Don't forget the Pink Cat Challenge going on now on the PCP forum and Storage Units, Ink and More's March sets are now available!!! I am telling you this has been one awesome week so far! Thanks for stopping by! Lots of smiles!!!