6 years...

And it seems like just YESTERDAY...

My daughter turns 6 today!  Wow.  What a lucky Mom I am.  She is beautiful, loving, caring and thoughtful (most of the time ;) ).  She is growing into such the little lady, and her Dad and I are very proud of her, and all she has accomplished in her young life.

She started walking at 8.5-9 months old, and hasn't stopped moving since - lol.  She always has us on our toes, and you never know what will come out of her mouth next...last night, when she woke up and saw the balloons we put in her bedroom so that she knew it was her special day - she said "I like looking at them - they are fascinating to look at, aren't they?"  What 6 year old says that?? lol.

She has a big heart, one full of love and kindness, but one that easily broken and hurt...that big heart drove her to donate her hair to Locks of Love at age 4...she even inspired her cousin to donate her hair -- (here's a post about that)

I know some day she will make a difference in the world, she's destined to.  I will enjoy, God willing, watching her life unfold...

Happy Birthday baby - I love you!

Normally, I would have posted her birthday card, but I actually made it for an upcoming Pink Cat Studio Release, so I can only give you a teeny peek at the card...so stay tuned for the full view!

A CUTE Cutesy Cover...

Hope the rest of the weekend treated you well.  I had planned to post this yesterday, but life happened.  Never got a chance to find the camera, and get the photos off of it - lol.

Anyway -- I made this Cutesy Cover © for my niece's birthday gift.  She's 13, and I tried to come up with something that would appeal to her.

I can't WAIT to be able to show you more of what Lauren has in store, some of the new papers coming out are DELISH -- but for now, I'm sharing with you some of what I already have on hand.

The polka dotted paper is from the digi kit that my blog design was inspired by -- "Peace, Love and Happiness, by Libby Weifenbach.  You'll see I made it into double sided paper, using another pattern from that same kit.  I LOVE that kit -- lol.

To print your OWN double sided paper, just print, reload, and print the other design on the opposite side - easy peasy!  I just recently started using matte finish double sided brochure paper.  It has AMAZING results.  The colors are so vibrant, and I just LOVE the look!  I got mine at Staples, but I don't see it listed on their site...which makes me nervous -- maybe I should go stock up! ;)

This was cut the original size with my Cricut, and the little jewelry box fit inside perfectly!

I used a big Martha Stewart border punch for the Raspberry layer, and tied it up with a little avocado ribbon.

It closes with a basic grey magnetic snap, so she can use it to re-gift, or find something else to keep in it.

So, have you used the Cutesy Cover © template yet??  or any of Lauren's new templates?  I'd love to see what you've done with them.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Cake Anyone???

Hello Friends :)

I those of you that celebrate had a great Christmas.  I did, except for when my almost 6 year old daughter woke up at 3:30 am and WOULD NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP! - It made for a long day, but it was a good one, none the less.  BOTH of my girls said more than once today "This is the BEST Christmas EVER!" so I think we did alright :).

It's Saturday, and time for a Just Us Girls Challenge.  This week we have a sponsor, and guest designer  Kelleigh Ratzlaff!  I was so excited to get to use one of Kelleigh's templates -- fun, and easy to assemble!

I chose to use the Hexagon Box Template for my project.  When I saw the template on her site -- all I could think of was a wedding cake.  Not sure if it's all of the episodes of "Cake-off" or "Ace of Cakes" that we've been watching or what. lol.

So, I printed out the template, and got to work.  VERY easy to cut out, so that's a bonus too!

I assembled the boxes, and then trimmed them up with some 12 Days of Snowflakes digi paper.

Added some ribbon, and then the confetti flowers.  I tried to make it like those really elegant cakes, and had the flowers crawl up the side of the 'cake' to the middle of the top layer :).

Each flower is adorned with a clear flatback swarovski crystal, for that little bit of elegance, and sparkle.


Be sure to stop by the rest of the team, as they've all made some FABULOUS creations with Kelleigh's templates -- and don't forget to stop by Kelleigh's blog too!!

• 
  
  Alicia Weiman
  
  
  
• 
  
  Dana Gustafson
  
  
  
• 
  
  Kristin Bueter
  
  
  
• 
  
  Lisa Kind
  
  
  
• 
  
  Maria Levine
  
  
  
• 
  
  Mona Pendleton
  

  Pam Imholz
  

   
  

  Kelleigh Ratzlaff
  
  
  

Have a SUPER day -- I'll be back tomorrow with a Cutesy Cover project!

Who would like to win $400 worth of stuff?!?!?!?

I know I would!!!  Tab, over at 7 Kids College Fund is sponsoring a contest, and here are the deets:

In exchange for your donation to an organization that helps single moms who are fighting cancer by providing meals, housekeeping, bill-paying assistance and general help during their treatment, I will enter you into the drawing for this awesome prize package below!!!

Watch this Video - maybe grab a tissue first tho --

Click here to visit their site or click here to make your donation!

A donation in any amount will qualify you for the drawing. After you make your donation, you will receive a confirmation e-mail from Singleton Moms. Just forward that e-mail to me as your entry at 7kidscollegefund@cox.net. 

All entries must be received by midnight Christmas day. I will announce the winner on Saturday, Dec. 26. There are just 4 days to make your donation and send your entry in to win. Your donation can be as little or as much as you like. This is a truly beautiful way to make the season even brighter by helping those who are certainly struggling at time when many of us are celebrating and enjoying life. Plus, you could win a SUPER PRIZE!!!

 

This treasure trove of prizes includes multiple stamps (Sarah Kay, Crafty Secrets, C.C. Designs, Whiff of Joy, Stampendous, Sassafras Lass, Rachelle Anne Miller and Basic Grey), stickers from Crafty Secrets and Stampendous, Spellbinders dies, Cuttlebug Folders, Sugar Rush paper pad from Basic Grey, Robin's Nest Dew Drops, All-Purpose Ink, Ink Potion No. 9, Distress Stickles, Distress Ink, Glitz Stickles, the complete Kaiser Craft Pina Colada 12x12 paper colllection and the COPIC BASIC MARKER COLLECTION!!!  

Take a peek at Tab's post here for photos of the goods!

My JUGS Color Challenge :)

Good Morning - and Happy Saturday to you!

Thanks for all of the kind words on my post yesterday.  It still doesn't feel real, but I'm quite excited about this new venture with Lauren.  If you don't know what in tarnation I'm talking about - check this out!

But -- today is about COLOR.  All over the place I see beautiful color combinations, but for some reason, when I sit down to make something - I never reach for those...I always 'play it safe'.  When I signed up to do this color challenge - I decided that I would reach out a little bit - and get people to stretch, and put together some colors they otherwise might not.

Here's my challenge for you:

These were some Christmas ornaments I got a few years ago, and I just LOVE them!!  Just so happens they match up quite nicely with some popular cardstock colors -- gee, how convenient!

For my card, I used Kraft, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, and New Leaf, but you can substitute with whatever colors you may have --

I had this design in my head for DAYS...I cut those ornaments out with my Cricut.  I made the shapes in Photoshop Elements, and used my SCAL software to trace the shape and cut it out.  How AWESOME is that?!?!?!?! 

Finished it off with a sentiment from Papertrey Ink - and that was that -- I kept it simple and clean - but yet fun!

Hope YOU have fun, and come play with us this week!

Thanks SOOOO much for stopping by!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Signature Holiday (PTI), Fancy Flourishes (PTI), So Swirly (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Ink: Memento Rich Brown, Fresh snow, Versamark
Paper: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, New Leaf, brushed gold

Accessories: gold cord, Martha Stewart glitter, EK success border punch

BIG News!!

Welcome!

I can't even BEGIN to tell you how excited I am to be a part of Lauren's first Design Team for My Time Made Easy!  She really has put together a GREAT team for the launch of her store, and I'm SO glad and honored to be a part of it!

It's been hard for me to keep quiet, but all this waiting is worth it!  Lauren has SO MANY great things in store for you all -- you are certainly in for a treat.

My Time Made Easy™ will be offering oodles of goodies - including beautiful printable digital papers, and templates, and STAMPS.

Today's project is 'In a Pinch'.  This is one of the very first Pretty Package© templates Lauren will be offering to you all, and it's a CINCH to make...pun intended -- lol.

Let me tell you - I have a Cricut Expression, and it sat in the box for 5 MONTHS...and one day, I got an e-mail from Lauren telling me that I HAD to open the box and USE it...she had just gotten hers and fell in love with all the possibilities.  And you know what???  She was SO right.  The machine comes with a DVD, and it makes it SO EASY to get started.  I went from feeling intimidated to making my first cut in about 45 minutes (and that included unpacking the machine out of the box!)

As most of you have read already, Lauren will be offering her Pretty Package© templates in all the popular cutter compatible files, and let me tell you...HEAVEN!  This was SO simple to do, and then to put together - it's a total no brainer.  She's ruined me for all printable templates -- I've instantly become a lazy papercrafter, lol.

So now -- a little bit about my project...I started out by using my Cricut to cut out the pieces for the template, and then before assembly, I stamped some flourishes from Lizzie Anne Designs So Swirly set in versamark, and then used heat & stick powder and dazzling diamonds glitter to make it all sparkly...you know I LOVE the sparkle.

See that great paper???  YEP - that's some of the NEW 12 Days of Snowflakes Pretty Printables© paper!!  It is FREE, and comes in lots of gorgeous colors...I've chosen the olive one for my 'In a Pinch' project.  The letters were cut out of some red CS on my Cricut, using SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot), and a font I already had on my computer...I thought 'joy' would be appropriate for this, since I'm overjoyed with my new DT responsibilities ;).  There's also a peek at some other paper that will be available in the store -- can you guess???  YES - those delicious stripes -- that's from the Throw me a Line collection!

The top of the box is just the perfect size to put a giga scalloped rectangle for a tag, in the event of gift giving, if you don't want one hanging off the top.  The In a Pinch Pretty Package© Template will be available for purchase in the store for only $3.00 until Christmas, at which time it will go to the regular already low price of $5.00, so why not get yourself a little treat for being an EXTRA good girl/guy this year??? ;).  This template is great size for a little single serving size bag of coffee, or some chocolate covered coffee beans, candy, candles, LOTS of great things!  

Well, that's about it for today -- I think I've talked your ear off enough! :)

Thanks SO much for stopping by, and hope you enjoy the hop around to see who the rest of my team mates are!  Thanks to Lauren for giving me this GREAT opportunity - and I hope you'll be back often to check in and see what I make with My Time Made Easy™!

Supplies:
Stamps: So Swirly (Lizzie Anne Designs), Simple Alpha (PTI)

Ink: Versamark, craft white
Paper: Real Red CS, Pretty Printables© 12 Days of Snowflakes
Accessories: In a Pinch Pretty Package Template, glitter, Ripe Avocado Ribbon (PTI)

Dust off those chalks...

And get CREATING!

Kristin gave us a GREAT challenge over at the Just Us Girls blog this week.

The Chalkboard technique.  A tutorial can be found on SCS HERE.

Now, I thought "oh, this will be EASY" -- but for some strange reason, I had this creative block.  I'm not sure if it was just that my week was so hectic and I'm exhausted, or what...but it took me a few attempts until I had something I was happy with.

I started out with my SU! Pastels, and I liked NOTHING that I made, then I broke out these pretty shimmery chalks, and liked it a little better...

The images, with the exception of the sentiment are from PTI's With Sympathy, and the sentiment is from PTI's Damask Designs.  I like these paired together, don't you??


On a totally unrelated note -- we had our first snowfall last weekend.  It looked SO pretty.  I can't imagine living someplace that doesn't have 4 seasons (though let me tell you, the older I get, the less and less I like the frigid cold!)  We had our town tree lighting and then we came home and had a family snowball fight -- lots of fun.  Here's a great pic I got of my daughter Shannon the next day...

Hope you get to play along with us at the JUGS challenge this week -- I apologize as I haven't had a lot of time to get around to comment -- but am hoping to make up for it in the coming days, now that I have some super important Christmas projects completed and out of the way. :)

When you upload your project, post your link on the Mr. Linky on the Just Us Girls blog post -- and use Keyword JUGS11 in the online galleries.

 

Be sure to check out what the rest of the team has created!

• Alicia Weiman
• Dana Gustafson
• Kristin Bueter
• Lisa Kind
• Maria Levine
• Mona Pendleton
• Pam Imholz
  

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

Gettin' Sketchy With it...

Hello All!

I'd like to thank everyone who's been weighing in on the Santa wrapping, vs. not wrapping gifts.  I'll leave the blog candy open until the end of the weekend on that post -- so go and weigh in if you want a chance at your choice of a digi image from Pink Cat Studio!

Now -- as for today's sketch.  Pam is our hostess this week, and she gave us a GREAT sketch to use:

I knew I wanted to do something 'Christmassy'.  I got out my Brushed Gold CS, and some glittered paper from DCWV.

I thought the circles on the layout would make some great ornaments, so that's just what I did...I punched out two circles (the avocado one is 1 3/8", and the smaller one is 1")  and stamped some images from Rustic Snowflakes in fresh snow ink, and then adhered them to the front of the card with dimensionals.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Signature Christmas, it's embossed in white on a piece of Brushed Gold CS that was cut out with a Labels 4 die.  Then, I just finished it off with a touch of ribbon...

Be sure to stop by the rest of the team's blogs, they all did an amazing job with the sketch this week!
 

• 
  
  
  Dana Gustafson
  
  
• 
  
  Kristin Bueter
  
  
• 
  
  Lisa Kind
  
  
• 
  
  Maria Levine
  
  
• 
  
  Mona Pendleton
  
  
• 
  
  Pam Imholz
  
  and YAY!  Alicia is playing along this week too!  Hi Alicia!  Glad to see you here :). 
  

Hope you'll make some time to play along this weekend too!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hi....my name is Tracey...

I thought I'd re-introduce myself, since I've been away so long!  LOL.  Sorry for my extended absence, life has been a bit crazy here, sick kids, sick me, Thanksgiving...it's all a big blur, but thankfully everyone is healthy, Thanksgiving was great, and we're off to a good start toward Christmas!

It's Thursday -- and that means it's Pink Cat digi release day!

I used the Lily Winter Princess image...

I decided to mix things up a bit, and use chocolate and raspberry for my color combo.  I used liquid applique on the 'fur' trim of Lily's cape, and put some white and chocolate pearls in her hair, and on her crown.

The ribbon was pleated on my card front using some scor tape, and then I just zipped it through my sewing machine to secure it.  Added an adorable little ribbon flower with a button to finish off the center.

Be sure to stop by and SHOP - there's lots of great images out there that Melissa has done -- including some cute Christmas ones if you still haven't designed your cards yet... :).

I have my design in my head, but haven't put it to paper yet.  I really need to do that - and get them done! lol.  I have to say though, I'm in a pretty good place, the house is decorated, tree is up, shopping is near 90% complete...I just have gifts to make, and my cards...

A-HA -- I need  you all to help me... I've heard that at some houses, Santa doesn't wrap gifts...Santa has always left wrapped gifts at my house, unless it is too big to wrap...I'm thinking with everyone 'going green'...maybe Santa could add our house to the list of 'non-wrapped'...tell me your thoughts on this -- does Santa bring wrapped gifts to your house, or not???  Curious to know what's going on out there...to sweeten the deal (and hope that you all will answer) I'll offer up a digi image from PCS as a little "thank you" to a randomly selected commenter on this post!

So ---

1. Tell me if Santa brings you wrapped or not wrapped gifts, and why
2. Go to Pink Cat Studio's digi store and SHOP...
3. Go check out what the rest of the team has done this week

• Alicia Weiman
• Emily Leiphart
• Inge Groot
• Kerry Donovan-Casey
• Kristen Catalano
• Mackenzie Bruckler
• Maria Bell
• Suzanne Dean
• Tori Hemmingway
• Vicki Garrett
  

4. Have a SUPER day!!!

JUGS 8 - Lisa's Color Challenge

Happy Saturday to you all!

I'm so glad that I got my card done early this week, as my Shannon has suddenly come down with an illness...not sure if it's THE flu (I NEVER should have said anything the other day in my post - lol) or just some other random virus, but I hate when they don't feel well.

Lisa gave us this FABULOUS color challenge at Just Us Girls this week:

So, I looked through my paper stash, and just LOVE Papertrey's Autum Harvest papers, but one problem...no blue.  Hmmmmm....so I broke out my markers and ADDED the blue!  I think it really tied it all together, don't you??

I dusted off my Spiral Boquet set from PTI, I don't use it nearly as often as I should - I just LOVE those beautiful sentiments.

We're expecting to have a low-key weekend, thankfully.  Hoping you get to play along with the challenge - not too late to make a nice Thanksgiving card for your Thanksgiving hosts (if you are going elsewhere for dinner) :).

Here's links to the rest of the girls -- some gorgeous stuff there, don't miss it!

• Kristin Bueter
• Lisa Kind
• Maria Levine
• Mona Pendleton
• Pam Imholz

     

   

  Don't forget - link your project to the Mr. Linky by 9pm EST Thursday, November 26 to be eligible to be our next Chic of the Week!  Uploading to online galleries?  Use keyword JUGS8 please :).

  
  Have a super weekend -- thanks for stopping by!
  

Some Dustin Pike Goodness...

Since most of my stamping time these days is taken up with design stuff for Pink Cat Studio, and the JUGS challenge team, I thought it would be nice to switch gears a bit, and get some Dustin Pike images out to color.

I loved this little bear a top a Christmas Tree, and felt I really needed to use him :).

A sweet and simple card with a cute image, perfect for the upcoming holidays.

A quick note -- Stop by Lauren Meader's blog today - she's got some BIG NEWS to share - yipee!!

Got Flu??

THANK GOODNESS we don't! LOL.  We've so far, remained unscathed in this ugly flu business.  However, I know plenty of people who weren't as lucky, and the flu STINKS.  So, wouldn't it be nice to show someone you care by giving them a little care package???

I decided to use this INCREDIBLY cute 'sick Lily' image *NEW* from Pink Cat Studio Digital store today, and make a little gift package.

But WHAT could I put my items in?  This adorable little purse template by Lauren Meader of course!  I put together my little purse, and added Lily to the front flap.

Here's a close up of Lily -- look at her fuzzy bunny slippers, cute, eh?  Doesn't she look so cozy curled up in that chair?  The poor thing.

So what's IN the purse???  Inside is a small purse pack of tissues, some tea bags and some honey lemon cough drops to help soothe the ickies away.

Melissa also came out with a 'sick Billy' image too, so no worries, you can make these little care packages for the guys in your life too :).

Be sure to check out what the rest of the team has done with the images, and also, stop by my team mate ALICIA'S blog, and check out pics of her new baby boy Kale, who was born last Friday!  Congratulations Alicia!!!

• 
  
  Alicia Weiman
  
  
  
• 
  
  Emily Leiphart
  
  
  
• 
  
  Inge Groot
  
  
  
• 
  
  Kerry Donovan-Casey
  
  
  
• 
  
  Kristen Catalano
  
  
  
• 
  
  Mackenzie Bruckler
  
  
  
• 
  
  Maria Bell
  
  
  
• 
  
  Suzanne Dean
  
  
  
• 
  
  Tori Hemmingway
  
  
  
• 
  
  Vicki Garrett
  
  
  

Wishing you all a GREAT day!

Outer Space Billy & NEW Stamps!

Hello, and Happy Tuesday!

I've been meaning to post this card for some time now, and just haven't had a whole lot of computer time as of late.

I told you all how my older DD wouldn't let me give this owl card to her friend for his birthday - and that I had to make one up that had green in it.  Well, here's the card:

DD's friend like Outer Space and rockets and those kind of things, so I decided that would be the theme of my card.  I broke out my Dress up Billy Stamps, and Lily and Billy Accessories, and got to work.  The 'moon' that Billy is standing on is actually from a Lizzie Anne Designs set that I have.  I tried to replicate the 'moon' using a circle die cut and my spots and dots cuttlebug folder.  The stars on the navy blue BG were all hand drawn with my Sakura Stardust pen.

The sentiment?  I just cut it out by hand, and mounted it onto a glittery star punch out.

I got 2 thumbs up from DD for this one -- much better than the clown card apparently...well, for Ty anyway.

Be sure to stop by at Pink Cat Studio, as Melissa just released three “Lily in Winter” themed rubber stamp sets. Each set has 3 stamps which include a large Lily stamp, a small coordinating stamp and a sentiment.  They're based on some of her digi images, for those of you that LOVE Rubbah! :).  Here's a peek:

Thanks for stopping by today -- hope it's a great one!

Supplies:
Stamps: Lily & Billy Accessories, Dress Up Billy (PCS), Out of This World (LAD)
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Night of Navy, Green Galore, Real Red,  PTI White, DCWV glitter mat stack

Accessories: Star punch, circle nesties, Spots and dots CB folder, Sakura stardust pen

JUGS 7 - Technique Challenge

Hi friends!

I'm the host this week over at the "Just Us Girls" challenge blog.  Hope you'll stop by and play along!

This week's challenge is dry embossing, with a twist to make a birthday card, as today is my team member Dana's birthday!  Dana was under the (false) impression that today's challenge was with a twist of thanks, so that we could keep our birthday wishes a secret!

Happy Birthday Dana!!!

I made my card fairly simple, using the number block embossing folder, and a fun looking sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Mod Squad set.

Pink and Orange are such a happy color combo to me, and thought it would be good for a card for Dana.  I even colored in the polka dots on my ribbon (a la Lauren Meader) to make it all matchy matchy :).

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the challenge...I want to give that double embossing technique a try (Pam's example with it is great!)

Be sure to stop by the rest of the Girls' blogs to see what they've been up to - and MAKE SURE you go to Dana's blog and give her some birthday love!

• 
  
  
  Dana Gustafson
  
  
• 
  
  Kristin Bueter
  
  
• 
  
  Lisa Kind
  
  
• 
  
  Maria Levine
  
  
• 
  
  Mona Pendleton
  
  
• 
  
  Pam Imholz

Thanks for stopping by -- hope your Saturday is GREAT!

In a Wintery Sort of Mood...

We had a few mild days here in NY, and I was really enjoying them...well, today, we're back to more "seasonal" (that's a nice word for COLD) temps, lol.

Anyway - fitting enough, Pink Cat Studio's digital release is today, and Melissa came up with some fabby images for release today.  I chose this really cute snowman.  I like that he's tall and slender...very different for a snowman...I chose to flip him horizontally for my card today.

I wanted the card to be somewhat simple, yet have dimension.  I started out making a few 'snow banks' just using my craft knife, and making some wavy cuts on some scrap pieces of white CS.  Then I adhered the 'back' bank with dimensionals, and added more to each layer, giving this card some real 'pop' ;).  Finished it all off with some stardust stickles, and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink, and called it a day.


Here's a peek at the rest of what is new in the store today...you MUST take a peek at those kitties -- I love the one curled up in the box of paper, lol.

Go see what the rest of the girls have done with these great new images today!!

• Alicia Weiman
• Emily Leiphart
• Inge Groot
• Kerry Donovan-Casey
• Kristen Catalano
• Mackenzie Bruckler
• Maria Bell
• Suzanne Dean
• Tori Hemmingway
• Vicki Garrett 

   

  This is my SECOND post for today, please scroll down to check out a SPECIAL Just Us Girls challenge for charity!

   

  Have a GREAT day, and thanks for stopping by!!