Color Throwdown #121

Hey everyone, welcome to another week for the Color Throwdown! After this week, there is one challenge left for the year before the girls on the team take a much needed BREAK!

Speaking of breaks, I decided to take a tiny break from the posts for the My Favorite Things teasers and decided to use one of my Verses Rubber Stamps for today's Throwdown card. Verses is a company that I have carried at the store for years, and I have always liked their stamps. They're just located in Cinncinnati, about 4 hours from me so I've had the pleasure of meeting Connie Williams, the owner as well as some of the ladies who work for her at some of the stamping conventions. So I was pretty pleased when Connie contacted me and asked if I'd do some design work for her! My official stint as a designer doesn't start until January, but that won't stop me from using the stamps anytime! :) This "take joy in today" stamp is one of my favorites.... you've seen it before, I know!

Kristin is our Throwdown hostess today, and she was inspired to choose these colors from some chocolate that she's addicted to, these Lindor truffles! I stamped my Verses sentiment using Memento Rich Cocoa ink, then quickly hit it with some clear embossing powder. I overstamped the sentiment with a Tim Holtz stamp in Bashful Blue ink, and stamped the Bashful Blue background with the Crackle Cover-a-Card stamp from Impression Obsession. All the edges are sponged with Tea Dye ink as I was trying to go for a vintage-feel but also trying to keep it a little clean-and-simple. The layout is from Sketch #118 from Clean & Simple Stamping.
Stop over at the Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and the Linky Tool so that we can see your creation! And visit my Throwdown sisters' blogs for more inspiration...

My Favorite Things Day 4 Teaser

Welcome to Day 4 of teasers for the new releases from My Favorite Things! Today the Design Team and the Temp Team will be showing you some more cute stamp sets and dies including Heartfelt, Inspired by Love, and a new Jolinne set called Friendship is Shelter. Here are a few things to remember as we approach the final day of teasers tomorrow....

* Release party is from 8-10pm on December 1st, at the Member Company Forum on SCS.

* The December Guest Designer Contest ends on Tuesday, November 30nd at 10 PM EST. The winner will be announced at the release party.

* Teasers began on November 27th and will be daily through Wednesday, December 1st. Be sure to check the MFT blog at 11:00am for links to designers previewing each day. Every day there will be a prize hidden on two of the Creative Team’s blog posts. Leaving a comment on every designer’s blog post will give you the best chance of winning every day. This month, each day, 2 winners (one from each prize blog) will be sent a $10 gift voucher! Be sure to check here each day to see if YOU are the winner!

For my card today I'm using the Heartfelt set, and am head-over-heels for this cute image! I love her wintery coat and hat! Red and aqua blue are a favorite color combination of mine so I thought it would work good on this card since the image is winter and Valentine-themed. For the layout I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch challenge #102, and some more new Bo Bunny Valentine paper. I used the Little Open Scallop Strip Die-Namics under my gingham ribbon, too.
Inside I used the Notebook Edge Die-Namics (my first time using this.... what have I been waiting for???) and the new Hearts a'Plenty Die-Namics along with one of the three sentiments from the Heartfelt set.

Once again, I'm super grateful for all the wonderful comments this week! Being able to share these teasers this week from one of my favorite companies has been such a treat and I'm happy to have you stopping by each day!

My Favorite Things Day 3 Teasers

It's the third day of teasers for the new release from My Favorite Things! Today is Pure Innocence day and everyone will be sharing with you the four new sets that will be released... Love You with All My Heart, Hello Cupcake, Sending a Box of Love, and Splish Splash. I know the list is long, but be sure to check out all the blogs and catch up on these details...

* Release party is from 8-10pm on December 1st, at the Member Company Forum on SCS.

* The December Guest Designer Contest began yesterday and ends on Tuesday, November 30nd at 10 PM EST. The winner will be announced at the release party.

* Teasers began on November 27th and will be daily through Wednesday, December 1st. Be sure to check the MFT blog at 11:00am for links to designers previewing each day. Every day there will be a prize hidden on two of the Creative Team’s blog posts. Leaving a comment on every designer’s blog post will give you the best chance of winning every day. This month, each day, 2 winners (one from each prize blog) will be sent a $10 gift voucher! Be sure to check here each day to see if YOU are the winner!

For my first card, I've used the adorable Splish Splash set with this cute little buddy and his puppy playing in the puddles! I borrowed the idea for the layout on this card from Lynn Put. Lynn had a fabulous card she made for the Color Throwdown last week that had this great layout and I couldn't resist CASE'ing it for my design. The papers I used here are from the new Seaside collection from October Afternoon.
Here's the simple addition I made to the inside of the card...

For my second card (I know it's early!) you can see I'm getting a jump start on Valentine's Day! This is the Sending You a Box of Love stamp set, and I have paired it with brand new paper from Bo Bunny. (You shoulda' heard me squeal last week when this paper arrived in time for me to use it for these teasers!) I used Sketch Challenge #308 from Splitcoaststampers for the layout on my card, and also used the new Hearts a'Plenty Die-Namics die! On the front, I cut out a heart with acetate and with some of the Bo Bunny paper for an embellishment...
...and on the inside I added another layered heart along with the Little Open Scallop Strip Die-Namics, and a sentiment from the stamp set.

I hope you have a happy Monday! It's my regular Monday off, and my girls are also off school today so I'm looking forward to some quality time with my daughters! I may bribe them to get out of bed before noon by offering to take them to lunch! :)

Thank you so much for your visits each day with the MFT Teasers! I appreciate all the wonderful comments so much! Each one makes me smile!

My Favorite Things Day 2 Teaser

It's the second day of teasers for the new release coming up from My Favorite Things! Today the MFT Team Member and the Temp Team have a new batch of stamp sets and dies to share with you, so I hope you'll take the time to browse and see what everyone has to share!

Here are a few details regarding the upcoming release you'll want to keep in mind...

* Release party is from 8-10pm on December 1st, at the Member Company Forum on SCS.

* The December Guest Designer Contest began yesterday and ends on Tuesday, November 30nd at 10 PM EST. The winner will be announced at the release party.

* Teasers began on November 27th and will be daily through Wednesday, December 1st. Be sure to check the MFT blog at 11:00am for links to designers previewing each day. Every day there will be a prize hidden on two of the Creative Team’s blog posts. Leaving a comment on every designer’s blog post will give you the best chance of winning every day. This month, each day, 2 winners (one from each prize blog) will be sent a $10 gift voucher! Be sure to check here each day to see if YOU are the winner!

Today I am previewing the new Flapper Doodles set called "Cheers to a New Year!" The Flappers are all gussied up and ready to party on New Year's Eve with their sparkly dresses and martinis! I used the Banner Day Die-Namics to make a great party banner for the Flappers to celebrate under, and used the Banner Day Alphabet (currently sold out) for the year. The bottom edge of my card has the Small Scallop Border Die-Namics across it, too.

Inside the card I used the Small Scalloped Border Die-Namics again, along with the Dainty Dots Die-Namics that will be released on Wednesday. I cut apart the "Cheers to a New Year" sentiment stamp so that I could use part of it on the front of my card and the other part on the inside, along with using the Banner Day Alphabet again, and one of the Flappers that I just colored with a marker to stamp.
Here are the Die-Namics I used...


I had a bunch of fun creating this card, and I hope you enjoy it, too! This is such a fun little stamp set, and even includes a "Martini Time" stamp so that you can keep using it even after the New Year's celebrations are over!

Stay tuned for more fun teasers again tomorrow, and THANK YOU for stopping by today!

My Favorite Things Day 1 Teaser

Yay, the first day of teasers for the new release from My Favorite Things has finally arrived! I've been so anxious to be able to share these fabulous new stamps with you in the coming days! I hope you'll enjoy seeing what I have to share with you as well as all the MFT Girls and the Temp Team members for December! Be sure to check out Kim's blog post here for links to all the Temp Team members, as well as sidebar links to the members of the MFT team!

Today I am previewing for you the new Tweeny Teen set "You Give Me Wings"! I just love this cutie-patootie with her curly hair and polka dots! :) She's colored with Copic markers and paired with some yummy new Tickled Pink paper from My Mind's Eye. I also used several different Die-Namics dies on my card... the Little Open Scallop Strip, the Flower & Leaf Trio, and a brand-new die, the Dainty Dots (shown below). You HAVE to have that die now, don't you? It's fabulous! I used the recent Mojo Monday sketch for the layout on my card.

I appreciate everyone sharing in the excitement with me of being a part of the MFT Team for this month! It's an honor and priviledge and I hope you'll enjoy seeing what I have to share! :)

Happy weekend!

Getting CrAzY!

Time to get cRaZy again this week with the Crazy 4 Challenges team! Cindy is our hostess for one more week, and this week she has challenged us to create a card using designer paper with script or a script embossing folder. Well.... I looked and looked through my designer papers. I found some papers that had little bits of script on them, but nothing really inspired me and I found lots of papers with printing, but that wouldn't work either. I don't have a script embossing folder, either. So I resorted to this beautiful "Thank You Tulip" stamp set from Flourishes that has a script background-style stamp and got busy! I kept my layout and colors pretty simple, preferring to just let the stamps take center stage.

I hope you'll give this challenge a try! If you decide to play along, be sure to link your creation with Mr. Linky on the C4C blog!

See my Crazy Sisters blogs for more inspiration, too!

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Vicki Garrett

Jessie Rone

Angela Wood

Lynda Benden

Barbara Anders

Joanne Grzelak

Jocelyn Pelkey

Maria Bell

Silke Ledlow

Silke Kittman

I appreciate that you stopped by today! Happy stamping!

Didja' see.....

THIS fabulous news today?

Woohoo, I'm so excited! Be sure to come back and see me tomorrow for the first day of teasers!

And hey, check out my new blog template for Christmas while you're here! I just LOVE it!

Color Throwdown #120

It's time once again for another Color Throwdown, and this week Danielle is our hostess with the mostest! She's chosen this fabulous color combo that could be used for a great variety of designs. I would think that even a non-traditional Christmas card could come out of this combo, don't you? OK, well I'd like to see someone try anyway, because I tried and failed! :) Instead I inked up this sweet Mo Manning "Cinderella" image from Stamping Bella. I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #94 for the layout.

I found that the paper in the Green at Heart collection from Basic Grey to be a good match with these colors, so I picked out a few for my card. My sweet Cinderella was colored with Copic markers from i {heart} papers!

I didn't have room on the card front for the sentiment, so I put it on the inside instead along with some further embellishment with my new Faux Crochet border Die-Namics from My Favorite Things.

Stop at the Throwdown blog for challenge details, and see my Throwdown sisters' blogs for further inspiration!

Danielle Kennedy

Kristin Bueter

Laura Pryor

Cathy Indelicato

Broni Holcombe

Barbara Anders

Lynn Put, November/December Guestie

I hope you'll play along this week! Happy stamping!

Define Good

The Cat's Pajamas released some new stamp sets and Cut-Ups dies tonight at their release party on Splitcoaststampers. Being the lucky retailer that I am, I already had some of the new stamps and dies in my possession a week ago, so I decided to get this new "Define Good" stamp set inky tonight and also to put the new dies to a work-out!

I used the TCP Tuesday challenge from last week for this card. The challenge was to be inspired by the chair posted on the TCP blog, and when I looked at the pattern on the chair I immediately thought of this green designer paper with the dots all over it from the Basic Grey "Jovial" collection. I guess a lot of the paper got covered up by embellishments and such, but you can still see some of it! :) The layout for my card comes from Jen's Sketch for You to Try from this past Saturday. I colored this cute image with Copic markers, as usual!

I decided to try cutting my Cut-Ups snowflake out with white felt, and with a few extra shims of cardstock, it cut beautifully! (Is that not the neatest snowflake die you've ever seen?) I added some dribbles of glue here and there on the snowflake then sprinkled on some Diamond Dust glitter for sparkle. I used some of the TCP "Divine Twine" to secure my button to the snowflake, too. Another new Cut-Ups die is seen hiding behind the snowflake... that's the new Icing die and it makes me want to devour a box of Hostess cupcakes every time I see it! A few other finishing details include using my Sentiment Flag die from Lil' Inker Designs for the sentiment, and some Polar White Flower Soft to dress up my bunnies Santa hat!

Oooh, it's so much fun to have new products to play with! I hope you like my card! Thanks for stopping by!

CrAzY for Circles - C4C64

We're getting CrAzy again this week at the Crazy 4 Challenges blog! Our challenge today is being sponsored by Wink Wink Ink, and the challenge is to incorporate circles in your design!

Several weeks ago, I got this card shown below from my sweet friend Susanna Boyd. I just love that cute little chair image and the sentiment, and adored the card layout and design elements. I went in search of the stamp set she used here, but just couldn't justify the purchase. So when the opportunity came about to pick out some stamps to use from Wink Wink Ink, and I spotted Melanie's cute "Comfy Chair" stamp set, and knew I could finally recreate Susanna's card.

I used some new Pyrus paper from Basic Grey for my card, printing my chair directly on the designer paper and the pillow on some Dusty Durango cardstock. I used some Warm Gray Copic markers to add some shading to the chair and the pillow, too. My sentiment is computer-generated.

Stop over at the Crazy 4 Challenges blog for all the details! You could be the winner of $15 worth of digital stamps from Wink Wink Ink! Then stop and visit the Crazy Girls for more inspiration!

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Vicki Garrett

Barbara Anders

Angela Wood

Jessie Rone

Maria Bell

Silke Ledlow

Lynda Benden

Jocelyn Pelkey

Joanne Grzelak

Silke Kittman

Happy weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #119

Another week brings another Color Throwdown! This week is being hosted by Barbara, and she was inspired by Fall for the colors this week. I really love this color combo, and was happy to find some paper in my Cosmo Cricket "Nutmeg" paper pad that matched up these colors very nicely. The challenge this week is especially exciting too because we are welcoming back an old member of the team!!! Cathy Indelicato has been on a bit of a stamping hiatus, but now she's back and we could not be more thrilled to "see" her again!

I used a semi-neglected Flourishes stamp set for my card today, the Seasonal Wreaths. I also used this week's Mojo Monday sketch #165 for the layout. The sketch seemed intimidating at first, but came together quickly once I got started! I tied a pretty bow, inspired by Bar to hang my sentiment tag.

Stop by the Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for some great inspiration!

Barbara Anders

Danielle Kennedy

Kristin Bueter

Laura Pryor

Broni Holcombe

Cathy Indelicato (welcome back, girlfriend!)

Lynn Put, November/December Guestie

I hope you'll decide to play along with us this week! Happy stamping!

Get Well Bear

I got a wonderful package in the mail yesterday containing an 8x8 paper pad of the new Modern Homemaker paper from October Afternoon, so I couldn't resist inking up a few stamps and putting it to good use late last night! This sweet bear from The Cat's Pajamas is one of my favorites... I used her all the time in my Copic classes at the store... and I thought she fit the "modern homemaker" image very well! :) Well, maybe she's more like June Cleaver? Anyway, I decided to pair her up with the papers and used the TCP Tuesday challenge #134 from last week for the layout. My bear is colored with Copic markers (of course!) and the flower and button dies I used are from TCP, (don't see them in the online store... maybe they're sold out?) and the Jumbo Ric-Rac die comes from My Favorite Things.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

CrAzy for Christmas - C4C63

We're gettin' CrAzY again this week! Are you ready? Cindy Haffner is our hostess-with-the-mostest for the month of November and this week her Crazy 4 Challenges challenge is to create a Christmas card! Surely everyone will create one at some point in the coming week, right? So you can play along, easy peasy!

For my card, I've used another of the a'la modes from My Favorite Things. I'm so in love with these cute skinny-mini's! This is the Candy Cane Kisses image, and I've paired her with some die cut snowflakes made with the Let It Snowflake Die-namics die. I spritzed the snowflakes and tag with some Perfect Pearls mist for sparkle (which doesn't really show up in my photo.... darn! Neither does the Spica glitter on the candy cane, but trust me.... it's there!) This designer paper is from Bo Bunny, and the layout is from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #92.

Stop by the C4C blog for all the challenge details! And to be inspired, visit the blogs of my CrAzY sisters....

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Vicki Garrett

Angela Wood

Barbara Anders

Jessie Rone

Joanne Grzelak

Jocelyn Pelkey

Lynda Benden

Maria Bell

Silke Kittman

Silke Ledlow

Hope your Saturday is fantastic! Happy stamping!

What's Cooking?

Well, I accomplished something yesterday that's quite major.... I actually completed the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge ON a Wednesday! :) And yes, it's the current challenge! If you stop by the MFT Forum at Splitcoaststampers, you can check out the challenge too, and play along. I also used the Sketch challenge #306 from SCS for the layout, too!

My main image is one of the cutie-cute-cute-cute images from MFT called A'la Modes. This one is currently sold out, I think (but I do have a few in stock at Toyrifix!) My designer paper is the new Tickled Pink 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye, and my image is colored with Copic markers.

I did some machine-stitching around the outer edge of the orange patterned paper, using what I now refer to as Jody-thread! LOL I have always loved how fabulous the stitching is on Jody Morrow's cards, so I asked her this past week what kind of thread she uses. If you check out this post on her blog, she goes into great detail about her card sewing. So of course, I rushed right out and got some of the thread she uses, and now it's officially dubbed Jody-thread!

Enjoy your day, and thanks for stopping by to brighten mine!