You're the Purrfect Gift Book!

Hi again ... today I have another MFTeaser for you ... the stamps used her are from the "Peppermint Cats" set that MFT Stamps will be releasing on Wednesday 1st October.

As Christmas is only a few months away and it is time to start thinking about Christmas Presents for family and friends i decided this set would be 'purrfect' to create a Christmas gift book with. Don't you just love those cat's tails LOL! I actually drew in the brick wall that the cats are sitting on.

Here is an inside view of my gift book ... I used a format that I borrowed from someone online last year possibly Jan Tink but offhand I can't remember. I added a few more lines for the gifts and the age so that my pages would be longer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Peppermint Cats
Paper: White; Cameo Coral & Old Olive - SU; Nursery Kids Girls DP - DCWV
Other: Black Ink; Rectangle Nestabilities; Tag Die; White Gel Pen; Bind It All; Pink Flowers; Olive Brads; Foam Tape; Copics

My Favorite Things is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, October 1 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. This month there are SIX new sets being released, plus a new storage system for your MFT stamps that you are gonna love!

Head over to the MFT forum on SCS to find out all the details and to find out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. We hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

A Hanna - Versary Challenge & Blog Candy!

Did you know that Hanna Stamps is turning 1 this week ... to celebrate the Design Team have planned some fun challenges over on the Hanna Stamps Member forum with some fun prizes ... so don't forget to check it out. The first of this week's special Hanna Stamps challenges is hosted by Kristi and is called "Get inspired at home". The challenge is to take a picture of something in your house that would inspire you to make a card. I used this ornament pictured below as the inspiration for my card .... notice her hands!!!!

No one really enjoys making sympathy cards but unfortunately we all have to make them at one time or another and I thought the prayering hands in the new "Feeding My Soul" Hanna Set would be perfect for a sympathy card. This set will be released by Hanna Stamps 2nd October.

I used this week's sketch challenge over on SCS to create my card. The river rock panel on the base card was embossed using the birds & swirls cuttlebug embossing folder.


Recipe:
Stamps: Feeding the Soul, Everyday Greetings - Hanna Stamps
Paper: White; River Rock, Soft Sky, Always Artichoke & Le Jardine DP - SU
Other: Black Ink; Birds & Swirls Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Circle & Oval Nestabilities; Green Brads; Green Grosgrain Ribbon; Foam Tape; Copics

I think I also mentioned Blog Candy .... here is the info:

What's better than chocolate mousse???? New Riley's of course!!!!

In celebration of Hanna Stamps first year in business, Kristi has lots of giveaways for you!!!!!

Visit our talented Design Team Blogs between now and Wednesday to see exciting sneak peeks and for the chance to win a never seen before Riley/Sophie Moose Image.

Leaving a comment on each blog, will increase your chances of winning. One new stamp per Design Team member blog will be given out. Winners will be announced at the Hanna Stamps Release Party on Thursday October 2nd at 9:00 p.m. So pop into the party for challenges, prizes, chatter, more prizes and to see what the amazing Design Team has in store for you.

If you want a chance to win blog candy ... leave a comment on this post . Here are the rest of the DT members blogs .... the more blogs you comment on the more chance you have of winning some blog candy.

Adela - Creations by AR

Amanda - Inkspirations

Beth - Freckled and Fun

Bev - Savor the Journey

Cambria - Stamp a Little Love Baby

Candice - Rubber Soul

Cindy - Cindy Haffners’s Corner

Janette - Stampin with Style

Jeanne - Inky Paws

Judy - Rock is Dead

Kittie - Kittie Kraft

Niki - My Paper Creations

Pam - Iris Garden

Patti - Design {U}

Shannon - Live, Love, Laugh & Stamp

Vicki - Summerthyme Studio

Kristi - Owner - Kreations By Krissy

Hope Your Holidays are a Hoot!

Hi I am back again with my first MFTeaser for the week ... My Favorite Things will be releasing 6 new sets this Wednesday 1st October.

Last month you may remember that I was pretty excited about the 2 small owls that were included in the "We're not Scared" set that was released last month. Well this month and am even more excited because this time round MFT will be releasing these cute "Christmas Owls". Aren't they just adorable!!!

I stamped the owls onto white card and colored in my image using my copic markers ... I then masked the owls and sponge the sky using blue bayou. I used my rectangle nestabilities to create the layers for my owl image.

Recipe:
Stamps: Christmas Owls - MFT Stamps
Paper: White; Real Red & Not Quite Navy - SU; DP - Kaiser
Other: Black Ink; Blue Bayou SU Ink; Rectangle Nestabilities; Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Foam Tape; Copics.


My Favorite Things is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, October 1 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. This month there are SIX new sets being released, plus a new storage system for your MFT stamps that you are gonna love!

Head over to the MFT forum on SCS to find out all the details and to find out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. We hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

Shape It Up!

Hi everyone ... well today is the beginning of a very busy blogging week. I will have lots and lots to share with you in the next few days. Both MFT Stamps & Hanna Stamps will be releasing new stamps later in the week so I will have lots of sneak peeks for you all. Besides that you will also have the opportunity to win some blog candy ... check back tomorrow for that. There will also be challenge cards from one or two other design teams I am on ... and some other exciting news I have for you all which I will let you in on at the end of the week. Phew!!!!!!

So anyway let's get started ............by now most of you will know that Monday's mean it is time for the challenge I do with my CCEE Stamper friends.

Our challenge this week was given to us by Carolyn King ... she instructed us to "Shape it Up, Baby!" we had to create a shaped card of our choice. We had to try to stay away from circles and do something a bit more out of the box! (Carolyn inserted an evil laugh at the end of her instructions haha!)

Well as you might tell ... I kind of went a little over board with this challenge cause I ended up with 3 different shaped cards LOL! I like shaped cards and I was just having too much fun haha!

My first card is a shoe card ... I used a template I found in the Papercrafts magazine as the basis of this card ... but I did adapt the template as I wanted to add part of her leg to the card as well ... this gave me more room to stamp things onto on the inside of the card. If you want the template you can find it here. The flower above the shoe strap is supposed to be a tattoo ... my daughter says I stamped it in the wrong place and that it wouldn't be pink ... but oh well it is where it is now LOL!


For the inside of this card I used the new "Window Shopping" set that MFT Stamps will be releasing on the 1st October.

Recipe:
Stamps: Window Shopping & Boho Blossoms - MFT Stamps
Paper: Blush Blossom, Pretty In Pink & Chocolate Chip - SU
Other: Black Ink; Pretty In Pink SU Ink; Pink Flower; Pearl Brad; Pink Button Brad; Pink Grosgrain Ribbon


OK ... so I saw this card on Beverly Rousch's blog on Saturday and I just had to CASE it. Now Carolyn did tell us to "shape it up" what could be shapelier than this LOL! My version doesn't look at good as Bev's does ... but I still like it ... getting those curves in the right place takes a bit of practise LOL!

Bev has a great tutorial on how to create this "Man Card" as she calls it here. Oh and while you are at it .... check out her Christmas version too.

Recipe:
Stamps: Wild About You - SU
Paper: Creamy Caramel & River Rock DP - SU
Other: Creamy Caramel SU Ink; White Ink; White Gel Pen; River Rock Grosgrain Ribbon


And finally my Kimono card, this is pretty simple to create and all I needed here was card and oriental paper. Look no stamps!!!!!! hahaha!

Don't forget to check out our CCEE Stampers blog ... and we would also love to see your shaped card/cards ... it can be anything you want it to be.

True Love!

I finally got around to doing Beate's weekend sketch challenge today. When I saw this sketch yesterday I thought of my SU "Together Forever" set ... which meant of course a wedding card! During the process I did switch sets so this card is a combination of both SU & Papertrey Ink's Wedding sets.

If you look at any of my wedding cards I created this year you will notice that the majority of them are blueish in color ... that is because my eldest daughter is getting married this year and these are her colors ... next year hopefully I will move on to all sorts of colors. I still don't know which one my daughter will get ... I will need a couple I guess because I will have to give some to family members so they have one too ... so they won't be wasted. And what isn't used I am sure my daughter will use as she is always going to weddings.

The card and ribbon used here are the same as those used in my daughters wedding invites so it all matches. I used the swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the back white panel. I am very happy at how the Ancient Page Deep Harbor ink pad matches to the Aegean Co-oredination Card that I used too ... like they were made for each other :) .

Recipe:
Stamps: Together Forever - SU; Wedding - Papertrey Ink
Paper: White; Aegean Co-oredination
Other: Black Ink; Deep Harbor Ancient Page Ink; Island Blue Stripe Ribbon; Circle Nestablities; Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Foam Tape

Garden Whimsy Treat Bag

I have another treat bag to share with you today ... this time using the 'Garden Whimsy' set by Stampin' Up. This one is slightly larger than the one I posted to my blog yesterday as the bag I used for the inside of this treat bag is a larger size.

Recipe:
Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Baroque Motifs & Swirly Wheel - SU
Paper: White; Pretty In Pink & Rose Red - SU
Other: Black Ink; Pretty In Pink, River Rock & Rose Red SU Inks; Word Window Punch; Scallop Border Punch; Rose Red Grosgrain Ribbon

Halloween Treat Bag!

A few weeks ago a found this cute little treat bag over on the Stampin' Academy's blog ... if you want to know how to create one Angie has a great video tutorial that you can watch.

So of course when I discovered that the Hanna Stamps challenge today over on the member forums of SCS was to great a Halloween theme 3D item ... well of course I just had to make one of these. I know I will be making more of these in the future as they are so much fun to create.

Recipe:
Stamps: Trick or Treat Set - Hanna Stamps; Sentiment- Making Memories
Paper: White; Black; Pumpkin Pie - SU
Other: Black Ink; Scallop Border Punch; Black Grosgrain Ribbon; Black Pearls; Velcro; White Paper Bag; Copics

A Cupcake Owl!

My card today is for Taylor's of Taylored Expressions Cupcake challenge. This week I am Taylor's Featured Cupcake Sampler .... how exciting is that!!!!!

I don't have any owl stamps that are cupcake related (I wanted to use an owl on my card for no other reason other than I like owls!) so I decided to use the owl & tiny cupcake stamps from Pink Cat Studio. This owl normally holds a balloon, so I stamped the owl omitting the balloon and then stamped 2 cupcakes onto scrap paper and cut them out and attached to my owl.

I used my square nestabilities to create all the layers to my squares and to add texture to my base card I used the swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder.

Recipe:
Stamps: Owl & Cupcake - Pink Cat Studio
Paper: White; Real Red, River Rock & Not Quite Navy - SU; DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Square Nestabilities; Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Red Brads; Red Grosgrain Ribbon; Foam Tape; Copics

Flowers for You!

Good morning everyone! My card today uses another of the new stamps from alota Rubber Stamps. This image could be used for all sorts of ocassions. For this card I haven't added a sentiment as yet, I thought I would wait until I know what I am using this card for before I add it.

I added two rows of paper piercing to the top right hand corner of the card. The scallops down the bottom of the card are created using the Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch. I love how this image also works with the oval nestabilities to make layering easier.


Recipe:
Stamps: Girl with Flowers - alota Rubber Stamps
Paper: White; Pretty In Pink & Rose Red - SU; DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Oval Nestabilities; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Lace Doily Border Punch; Grosgrain Ribbon; Foam Tape; Copics

Time for Bubbly!

Today's card is combines two challenges over on the MFT members forum of SCS. The first challenge is this week's MFT sketch challenge ... this week it is Cindy Haffner's turn to host the challenge. Don't forget that just by playing this challenge you have the change of winning a $5 shopping Certificate for MFT Stamps.

The second challenge is this week's "Who's That Girl" challenge from earlier in the week. This week the stamp set being featured was "Time for Bubbly" I love this set.

Recipe:
Stamps: Time For Bubbly - MFT Stamps
Paper: White; Real Red & Cool Caribbean - SU; DP - Unknown
Other: Black Ink; Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Long Rectangle Nestabilities; Red Grosgrain Ribbon; Tag Die; Red & Blue Flowers; Blue Brads; Bottle Charm; Foam Tape; Copics

Christmas Flourishes!

My card today is for another Spiral Whisper challenge, this week the challenge is to combine flourishes somehow in our card.

I decided to use this adorable "Milly with Presents" which is one of of the new Christmas images to be released earlier this month. Isn't she just sooooo cute! I actually colored the image in and then went through my stash of designer papers (I normally pick my paper before coloring) ... how lucky was I to find this one that had a variety of pink/red/greens just like I used to color my image ... of course I had to use it.

I stamped my flourish stamp onto my designer paper using white ink. The circles were all created using my circle nestabilities.

Recipe:
Stamps: Milly with Presents - Spiral Whisper; Sentiment- Papertrey Ink; Flourish - Autumn Leaves
Paper: White; Old Olive - SU; Red; DP - Unknown
Other: Black Ink; White Brilliance Ink; Circle Nestabilities; Double End Tag Die; Grosgrain Ribbon; Olive Brad; Foam Tape; Copics

A Fairytale Ending!

Once upon a time in a land far far away ..........

My card today is for today's sketch challenge over on SCS. I used the Elzybells Fairytale stamps to create my card .... I just think these are adorable!!!

I used the script cuttlebug embossing folder to create the texture on my blue base panel. The sentiment is one from "A Fairy Tale Ending" set also from Elzybells, I stamped it so that it was in two lines rather than one and then used my circle nestabilities to cut out my circles. I didn't have the color ribbon I wanted so I used white grosgrain ribbon and colored it with my alcohol markers.


Recipe:
Stamps: Knight & Princess; Sentiment - Elzybells
Paper: White; Soft Sky, Blue Bayou & DP - SU
Other: Black Ink; Soft Sky SU Ink; Circle Nestabilities; Script Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Grosgrain Ribbon; Blue Brads; Foam Tape; Copics

Gingerbread Christmas Wishes!

Well for many Gingerbread Men is another traditional for Christmas ... and this is another fun stamp that was released this month from alota Rubber Stamps.

The right olive panel uses the Christmas bauble cuttlebug embossing folder to create the texture to the card ... in the centre I used the lace doily border punch from Martha Stewart .... love that punch!

Recipe:
Stamps: Gingerbread People - alota Rubber Stamps; Sentiment - EK Success
Paper: White; Old Olive - SU; Red; DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Lace Doily Border Punch; Oval Nestabilities; Oval Punch; Word Window Punch; White Gel Pen; Christmas Bauble Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Olive Brads; Foam Tape; Copics

Jack!

Isn't this just the cutest image!!!!!!!! This is from Spiral Whisper and is this week's "stamp of the week" .... you will be able to purchase this stamp at a special price over on the Spiral Whisper's site. Don't forget to check out the Spiral Whisper blog to see the cards the rest of the design team came up with.

For this card I used last week's sketch challenge from Jen of I Heart 2 Stamp's blog. I thought these bright primary colored designer papers would work well to make a child's birthday card!

Recipe:
Stamps: Jack - Spiral Whisper
Paper: White; Ballet Blue, Sun Yellow & Real Red - SU; DP - Pebbles Inc
Other: Black Ink; Sewing Machine; Tag Die; Red Brads; Numbers Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Foam Tape; Copics

Friendship is one of life's greatest gifts!

"Friendship is one of life's greatest gifts" .... isn't that a wonderful sentiment and how very true. I value all my friendships!

I have made some wonderful friendships due to the internet, SCS and blogging. As you all know my CCEE Stamping friends and I do a challenge every Monday, this week our challenge is a supply challenge and this month it was Carolyn King's turn to send us the supplies.

Carolyn sent us all her wonderful Whimsical Autumn set that she designed and was released earlier in the month by Gina K Designs. Carolyn is donating 100% of her proceeds from this set to the Alzheimer's Association.

Our challenge this week was to create a Thanksgiving card/Fall themed card using any combination of stamps and whatever else we wanted to use and then send the card to someone in your life to let them know you are thankful for him/her.

I combined the CCEE challenge with this months Dirty Dozen sketch challenge that was posted to SCS last week.

Don't forget to check out our CCEE Stampers blog to see the rest of the cards the girls made.

Recipe:
Stamps: Whimsical Autumn - Gina K Designs
Paper: White; Black; Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and DP - SU
Other: Black Ink; Circle Nestabilities; Forest Branches Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Black Brads; Foam Tape; Copics

It's A Witch Thing!

Hi, hope you are all enjoying your weekend! My card today uses another of the new stamps from alota Rubber Stamps ... this time one for Halloween ... isn't she a cute witch!

For this card I used the spider web cuttlebug embossing folder on the right side of the card .... I used the area where the folder didn't reach to use for my sentiment.

Recipe:
Stamps: Witch & Sentiment - alota Rubber Stamps
Paper: White; Pumpkin Pie - SU; DP - MFT Stamps
Other: Black Ink; Spider Web Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Word Window Punch; Oval Nestabilities; Orange Brads; Foam Tape; Copics

29 Again!

Now I have the song 29 Again in my head ... you are all lucky I can't find the lyrics cause that means I won't start singing in here LOL ... wouldn't want to put the wrong lyrics after all hehe.

My card today is for Taylor's of Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge ... I have been wanting to use this stamp for this challenge for a few weeks now and each time I have ended up going with something else instead non cupcake related ... now I am back to cupcakes for a while.

Being 29 again sounds like a great idea .... no hope here though ... sheesh even my kids are older than that LOL!

Recipe:
Stamps: Smells Like Cake & You Say it's Your Birthday sets - The Cat's Pajamas
Paper: White; Black; Regal Rose & Tempting Turquoise - SU; DP - Creative Imaginations
Other: Black Ink; Long Rectangle Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Slot Punch; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Dot Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Black Brads; Curly Label Punch; Foam Tape; Copics

Aaargh!!! Happy Owl-oween!

Aaargh me hearties!!!!!!! did you know that yesterday (19th Sept) was 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' ... for some of you I guess it is today .... just depends which side of the globe you life one LOL! I didn't make a pirate card yesterday cause I didn't get around to stamping but I had to make one today especially seeing I got some new pirate stamps during the week.

You all know I love owl's so when I see new owl stamps I normally have to have them ... but I also seem to collect pirate stamps too so of course when I saw this fun Owl-Oween set from Hero Arts of course I had to have it!

My card today is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge and this stamp set seems to fit right into this layout so it worked out great! I used the web cuttlebug embossing folder to create the texture on the left hand side of the card.

Recipe:
Stamps: Owl-oween set - Hero Arts; Aaargh - Stampendous
Paper: White; Black; Real Red - SU; DP - Unknown
Other: Black Ink; Old Paper Distress Ink; Black Brads; Distressing Tool; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Web Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Copics

Hanna's Pets!

Today's card is for the Hanna Stamps challenge over on the Hanna Stamps member forum of SCS. This week the challenge is hosted by Jeanne Strieff who gave us all a inspiration challenge.

My card is inspired by the colors and the all over pattern of the designer paper that was used for this challenge.

Recipe:
Stamps: Hanna's Cats - Hanna Stamps
Paper: White; Pretty In Pink, Red Riding Hood & Baja Breeze - SU; DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Sewing Machine, Long Rectangles Nestabilities; Red Brads; Flower; Gratitude Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Foam Tape; Copics

Happy Together!

One of the new weekly challenges that is happening over on the My Favorite Things Member Forum of SCS is one called Oldies Plus Goodies! This challenge will happen every Friday and this week the stamp set that is being featured is called "Hearts Galore".

Recipe:
Stamps: Hearts Galore - MFT Stamps
Papers: White; Pretty In Pink & Regal Rose - SU
Other: Regal Rose SU Ink; Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Square Nestabilities; Regal Rose Grosgrain Ribbon; Corner Rounder; Photo Corner Punch; Pink Brads

alota Christmas Wishes!

Ok I am back with yet another Christmas card for you today ... this is another one that I created on Sunday using one of the new alota Rubber Stamps Christmas images ... isn't she just so sweet.

For this card I also used this weeks OCC sketch challenge over on the Our Creative Corner blog ... I did tweek the sketch just a little by adding the oval inside the rectangle panel as the image I wanted to use is an oval shape.

Recipe:
Stamps: all Stamps - alota Rubber Stamps
Paper: White; River Rock, Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate & Happy Holiday DP - SU
Other: Black Ink; Pink Brads; Lace Doily Punch; Snow Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Long Rectangle Nestabilities; Foam Tape; Copics

Coffee & Friends!

Hi everyone .... well it is time for another My Favorite Things sketch challenge ... and this week I am excited to say it is my turn to host the challenge. From now on Cindy Haffner and I will be taking turns to host the MFT sketch challenge over on the MFT Members forum of SCS.

There is also another exciting change to the sketch challenges from now one. Each week one lucky person will get to win a $5 store gift certificate just for participating in the sketch challenge! And on top of all that goodness, the winners will be thrown into a monthly drawing for a $25 gift certificate! Now how cool is that!

• Kim is having a 10% off sale in honor of National Alzheimer’s Day on Sept 21. Check out the MFT Blog for all the details. What a great way to stock up on any sets you want, and help a very worthy cause.

Recipe:
Stamps: Hot Stuff - MFT Stamps
Paper: White; Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose & Chocolate Chip - SU; DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Chocolate Chip SU Ink; Spots & Dots and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folders; Word Window Punch; Flowers; Brown Brads; Pink Grosgrain Ribbon; Rectangle Nestabilities; Foam Tape; Copics