Life and Love

This is my card for the third and final challenge of Splitcoaststamper's Fall CAS DT search. Something on our card needed to be a couple whether it be embellishments or an image that has two of something. I went the natural route and picked Billy and Lily riding a tandem; two people in love, two wheels and two helmets. Well, this is actually me and my husband in Italy. Would you like to hear a love story? You may skip the next paragraph if you don't! ;)

I met my husband when I went to visit my sister in Indianapolis. They used to work together and she never even mentioned him! I met him two weeks before he was moving to Italy. I was never one to make the first move but I ended up telling my sister I thought he was cute. Of course she told him and he thought it was too bad that he was moving so far away. Well, we ended up exchanging emails and kept in touch. About three months later, my sister was working in England and I thought I would go visit her. My husband said that I should just fly over to Italy and visit him, too! I did, we had our first date there and that is a true story. Although we were in a long distance relationship, it didn't take long for us to fall in love and make plans to be together!

I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to submit my card for the finals since my camera has been acting all spazzy on me. It would work one minute and not the next so when I finished my card I was hoping that my camera would work. Well, it did not and I thought I'd be out of the running just because I couldn't photograph my card. I waited a bit, worked on some Pink Cat Studio release cards and tried again. My camera decided to work and I was so happy! I guess I have to start looking for a new camera whether I like it or not. I got some quotes to have it fixed and it will cost about the same as buying a new one. Printers are like that, too. What a complete waste especially since most everything goes in the landfill! Argh.

I've had a lot of fun trying out for the CAS DT so I won't be too disappointed even if I'm not named to the DT. I wish all of the finalists the best no matter what happens!

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Billy & Lily Bicycle Built for Two; Unity May 2010 Kit of the Month - A Little Happy; PTI Top Ten; Vivid ButterScotch ink; SU Taken With Teal ink; Copics; Glue Dots pop up relief

More Good Things!

After all the wonderful things that happened on Saturday, imagine my surprise when I received another blog award yesterday! I received this one from the adorable Meg at Corgi Creations.

To accept this award I need to do a few things:

1. Thank the person who gave it. Thanks, Meg! This means a lot to me and so does your friendship!


2. Copy the award and put it on your blog. Done!
   
3. List three things which you love about yourself. I'm genuinely nice, I love deeply, and I can do almost anything well the first time around.


4. Post a picture that you love.
   
   

   This is a photo of my son when he was almost three months old. He was trying to talk to me and kept saying, "Ah-Oooo". It was the cutest thing I'd ever heard and everytime I look at this photo I smile and think of his enthusiasm which he seems to accumulate as he grows. ;)

5. Tag five people you'd like to give this award to.

• Donna at My Scrapbox
• mustavcoffee at Crafty Musings
• Cookie at Cards by Cookie
• Mariska van der Veer at Sending You a Little Smile
• Inge Groot at Patterned Paper

Next, I found out that my team Creative Critters won the Third Place prize in PaperWork Co.'s Ultimate Summer Challenge! Way to go girls!! I'm so proud of how well Angela, Donna, Meg and I worked together. I can't wait to see what everyone makes with our new PWCO stamps.

Finally, I found out that I'm going to have a nephew! My sister has a 16-month-old daughter and her son will be born in January so she'll have two under two. I'm excited for her but also laughing at what she's going to have to deal with, especially if her son is as spirited as mine! Her daughter is so easy to manage and you know what they say... if you have an easy first, the second is... Heehee.

Well, I sure hope you've all had some great moments in the last few days. If not, I hope that my happy news has brought you a few smiles!

CAS82 Guest Designer

Three months ago, I tried out for a spot on Splitcoaststampers' Summer CAS DT and I didn't make it to the finals. That was no biggie because I did win a coveted guest designer spot! I'm truly excited to be a guest designer this week (along with Melina) because it's the last week of the summer and I've had to wait all summer for my moment in the spotlight. Good things come to those who wait, see? :D Without further ado, the CAS82 Challenge for this week is to be inspired by the word DELICIOUS. Can you imagine all the possibilities? If my camera hadn't died on me (more on that later), I definitely would've made more than one card!

For this card, I decided to try out GinaK's kraft cardstock and it's quite different from SU's kraft (now known as Crumb Cake) but in a good way. GinaK's kraft is much thicker, I can use my Copics on it (though I didn't on this card) and it has more colour variation in the wood pulp fibres used to make it. You can probably see some of the lighter areas in it which give it dimension and catches the light better. I used a Pink Cat Studio digi that I hadn't played with yet and coloured her in to look just like my fur-daughter. I added a burlap background and created a punny sentiment using two PTI sets. I popped Kitty on with dimensionals and tied two citrusy colours of twine at the top to finish. I'd love for you to play along with us this week if you can!

Boy, am I ever glad I did not procrastinate as I usually do when it comes to deadlines. I made this card last night and was able to take photos this morning right before my camera conked out on me! I'm not kidding!! My camera seems to be suffering from some sort of software malfunction and I'm really bummed about it since I only bought it a little more than a year ago. I hadn't planned on spending money to fix or replace my camera but it looks as if I might have to since I can't live without it. Argh. So, unfortunately, this will be the reason you may not see cards from me for a few days. Hopefully, that won't be the case!

Sources: GinaK pure luxury Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Kitty Holding Fish Bowl; Ippity A Bit of Burlap; PTI Enjoy the Ride; PTI Simple Alphabet; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Vivid ButterScotch ink; SU Crumb Cake ink; Copics; The Twinery baker's twine in Mandarin and Lemondrop; Glue Dots pop up relief

Embellish Magazine Color Challenge: Using Squares

Before I get started, I want to wish my dear friend Meg a very happy birthday. Happy Birthday, Meg! I hope your special day is amazing. :D

I wouldn't normally seek out colour challenges but it seems I've become addicted to the last few at Embellish Magazine and Wplus9. The newest colour challenge at Embellish Magazine has three bold colours and the required use of squares. These three colours remind me of Halloween. I thought it would be fun to make a Halloween card but I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate squares.

Purple is one of my least favourite colours. Okay, I take that back. It is my least favourite colour! I don't have much in terms of purple. I have some cheap, flimsy dp (for emergencies) and very narrow ribbon but zero cardstock. I thought I wouldn't be able to participate in this challenge until I spotted the purple in my baker's twine bundle. It's pretty enough to fulfill the challenge requirement and I don't mind purple in this very subtle form. ;)

I used one of my free Unity images (also shown in this card) to create a background of squares. Then I cut out black squares and impressed them using the linen side of PTI's Canvas & Linen impression plate, thus creating more squares. I die cut the sentiment frame from Simply Chartreuse felt and adhered the four pieces to the card. Then I pierced holes for the two-part baker's twine embellishment. I also notched the base of the card so the twine wouldn't create a bump along the bottom. I tied the bows in place and added rhinestones to finish. I loved the background so much, I didn't want to cover it up. It also gave me quite a few ideas for future cards!

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; GinaK pure luxury Black Onyx cardstock; Unity frame; PTI Fillable Frames #2; SU Kiwi Kiss ink; Staz-On Jet Black ink; PTI Simply Chartreuse felt; PTI Fillable Frames #2 die; PTI Linen & Canvas impression plate; QuicKutz Epic Six; Marvy-Uchida 1/8" long reach circle punch; The Twinery Lilac baker's twine; SU Basic Rhinestones

Good Things Come in Threes

I woke up this morning to find out that I received a Beautiful Blogger Award from the delightful mustavcoffee. She was one of my very first Followers and always leaves the nicest comments which make me smile. Thank you so much! As a recipient of this award, I need to tell you seven facts about myself and then pass the award on to seven other bloggers.

First, more about me:

1. I have one sibling, a younger sister who's three inches taller than me.
2. I have a degree in anthropology.
3. I'm also a certified makeup artist who has a magazine cover to my credit. No doubt, I love fashion and photography. My favourite clothing stores are JCrew, Banana Republic, Club Monaco and Lululemon, and my favourite shoe store is Cole Haan. I'm a label snob when it comes to handbags and I judge those who buy fakes (here's why).
4. I've kept every single report card I ever received, all the way back to junior kindergarten.
5. I love to receive postcards from friends who are travelling.
6. I get upset if I receive a gift that is not accompanied by a card!!! That's how much I appreciate cards.
7. I've been to 22 of the 50 United States but only 3 of Canada's provinces and territories. However, I've been fortunate enough to vacation in 13 countries and live abroad. My dream is to show my son the world and hope that he is able to experience even more than I have.

And now, seven amazing blogland friends I'd like to share this award with:

1. Sunghee at Creativity in Progress
2. Angela at Paper Cupboard
3. Meg at Corgi Creations
4. Saskia at Snippers & Co.
5. Karen at The Bald Dragonfly
6. Emily at Emmie-Lou Who...Stamps & You!
7. Lynn at The Mango Boys and Me

I wish I could've given this award to more than seven friends but rules are rules. Just know that I appreciate everyone who visits my blog (commenters and lurkers alike). I love to visit your blogs in turn and I'm always amazed and inspired by all your work as well! Thank you for making my blogging experience a fun one! It's what keeps me going.

The second great thing about today was that we were able to get our hands on a free Thomas & Friends wooden railway car for our son. Toys R Us was having a rare free giveaway so we got to the store just before opening and got in line. Of course they had limited quantities and when the opened the doors, the people who didn't have strollers rushed ahead of us and got in line first even though they arrived behind us. Is there no common courtesy anymore? All the parents with strollers were shunted to the back of the line but luckily we were able to get a hold of one train each for our little boys. They had four options: Thomas, Smudger, George and Rheneas. Our son had a hard time choosing but he finally settled on George whom we thought was the most unique.

Lastly, I found out that I made the finals in the Fall CAS DT search! I couldn't be more happy or excited and the final challenge is perfect for me. I can't wait to start on that card but not before finishing the card for my Summer CAS Guest Designer spot on Monday! :D

Chalkboard Special

This is for Challenge #2 of Splitcoaststampers' Fall CAS DT search. The challenge, called Fashion Statement, required us to use designer paper but not too much. When I saw the dp requirement, I started to panic. I haven't used dp in a very long time! I don't know why I stopped using it. I guess I just wasn't inspired by it. I love when others use it but it no longer interests me. Gasp. What was I to do? I went through every single stamp I had to determine which one would be most suited for paper piecing. Finally, I decided that I would use one of my new monsters, Sprat, from Starving Artistamps.

I'd had enough of flimsy black cardstock so I decided to try Gina K's and, boy, do I ever love it. I love it as much as her 120lb white for Copic colouring. The black is so saturated and matte that it actually looks like a chalkboard. That's what inspired me to create this little scene. In high school, I had a super skinny music teacher with bleach blonde hair. She wore four-inch stilettos every day which only accented her horrible posture. Most students despised her because she was so hard on us but I really enjoyed her classes and practice sessions. She really made me feel special even if her personal style was a little odd!

I stamped Sprat three times, cut him out and pieced him together. I thought the hearts would look cute on the centre belly since he really does look like he loves you! I cut out the same pink for his tongue which was added after I cut out his mouth, eyes and horns from white cardstock. Sprat's tail curled naturally during cutting so I decided to leave it. I think it looks cute that way, plus it gives Sprat some added personality. I heat embossed the sentiment to make it to look like chalk and added faux stitching. Then I used a new stamp set with alphabets, numbers and calendar months to add to the whole school scene. I made sure that Sprat and the chalkboard were centred as a unit and popped Sprat with dimensionals. This is probably one of the whackiest cards I've ever made! My son loves it. Do you? ;)

Sources: SU Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; GinaK pure luxury black onyx cardstock; Imaginisce Fancy Hearts & Frilly Floral dps; Doodle Factory Creatures II; Hampton Art {foot·longs} Number Border; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Whisper White craft ink; SU Crumb Cake; Copics; PTI Mat Stack 1 die; QuicKutz Epic Six; PSX Snowflake embossing tinsel; Hobby Hot Boss; Uniball Signo Broad White gel pen; Forever in Time pop dots

Pink Cat Studio ~ Aug 26th Digi Release!

You're in for a real treat today if you love Sick Billy and Sick Lily (view my samples here)! Now the sickies have Doctor Billy, Nurse Lily and Nurse Betty to tend to them! I had to use Nurse Betty for my card given my love for Betty. Besides, she was holding a teddy bear. The moment my son saw my printout with the new digis, he exclaimed, "Bear!"

I know, you're probably shocked that I didn't do anything extraordinary with her hair. I decided Betty was too busy to hit the salon this time around. ;) I coloured her in la-dee-da, shaded all the whites nicely, outlined her in blue and started cutting her out. Then it happened again. Gah. Do you remember the last time I coloured Lily's hair black and smudged it everywhere? I seem to have the worst luck when it comes to using black on my images. The shading near the red cross and the bottom of Betty's dress isn't shading, it's smudging. Argh. At least I didn't smudge black on her face this time! I loved the way Betty looked and I wasn't willing to start over so I left it. Besides, nurses rarely wear all white anymore and if they do, what are the chances their uniforms aren't a bit stained? If you didn't notice, just pretend I didn't say all that. Heehee. The main sentiments and background were created using one of my favourite Verve sets, Wishing You.

With any purchase from the Pink Cat Studio digi or rubber stores today only, you will get Doctor Bear free! Can you imagine creating a little scene with Sick Lily and Doctor Billy with Doctor Bear? Oohhh, fun! LOL Now you have many more creative options to make cute Feel Better cards! Thanks for stopping by for today's new release. We'll have a super fun Halloween rubber release for you next week!!! Have an awesome day. :D

Sources: SU Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Nurse Betty; Verve Wishing You; Vivid Red ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Crumb Cake ink; Copics; Glue Dots pop up relief

CAS81: Magical Day

I was out with some back pain for a couple of days but I feel much better today. I was also working on this week's Pink Cat Studio release which you'll see tomorrow! I did get a bunch of new stamps in the mail on Monday and Tuesday so I thought I would share a little something with you today. I made this card for this week's CAS81 Challenge to use the colours kraft, turquoise and white. You'd think that with kraft it would've been easy but for some reason this trio threw me for a loop!

I used my new Wplus9 set, Magical Moments, to create this simple but pretty card that I'll probably use as a birthday card. I had trouble inking the peacock evenly and this is what happened on the fifth try. The bird is still a bit splotchy but I guess those dark spots add dimension. :Þ Is it me? It's not like I have no experience with stamps! LOL I overlapped the sentiment panel with watermark ink and added one of the flowers from the set on the bottom left corner for balance. I notched the inner corners, adhered the kraft piece to the card, added the rhinestones and it was done. Pretty easy!

Here's a little scene I stamped out with a few of my new Doodle Factory stamps. I let my son pick the ones he wanted to colour.

He's a budding impressionist, don't you think? ;) My son loves the little monsters because he's so into Uglydolls. Of course, he wanted the bike and a kite attached to it, too. Ever since he got a massive helium-filled mylar Thomas balloon on his birthday, he sometimes imagines it's a kite. The little monster on the right is "stomp-stomp-stomp(ing)" ever since he saw my Dad using a garden fork in the garden. LOL The middle monster is rubbing his belly "mmm-yum-yum-yum" and the monster on the right is a "bee". My little guy just cracks me up! I can only imagine what he'll say when he can speak in sentences.

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Kraft cardstock; Wplus9 Magical Moments; SU Taken With Teal ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Versafine Watermark ink; Fiskars Nostalgia corner edger; SU Basic Rhinestones

Thank You, Teacher

This card is for Challenge #1 of Splitcoaststampers' Fall CAS DT search as well as Wplus9's Color Cue {7}. For the CAS DT Challenge, we have to use one or more punches and incorporate a Teacher's Pet theme. The colours for for Color Cue {7} are shown at left. I immediately thought to use the pretty apples from Unity's July 2010 KOTM. Is it true that teacher's love to receive apples, do they actually eat those apples, and does the student who gives them an apple win brownie points? ;) I love the vividity of aqua, gold and red together so I used a white background to show them off.

I stamped the three apples in different colours and set them aside. Then I used a square punch to punch out matching backgrounds for those apples. I put those aside and punched scallop borders for each of the squares. I decided to place the apples in the order of the colours shown in the Color Cue {7} image. For the squares, I shifted each colour to the right, and then I did the same thing with the borders. When completed, each square has exactly all three colours! I love this trick.

All of the papers I used have different textures. The red is plain, the aqua is striped and the gold is plaid. The borders are attached to the backs of the squares which are popped. The apples are also popped off the squares. Of course I had to use more of my new baker's twine from The Twinery. This card features the Lemondrop colour. After experimenting with both a knot and a bow, neither looked right so I just tied it off on the reverse side to show two straight lines. Besides, it's much more CAS this way! Since I used gold for the twine, I used the other two colours for the sentiment.

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Real Red cardstock; Bazzill Basics textured aqua cardstock; AC textured yellow cardstock; Unity July 2010 Kit of the Month; PTI Up, Up and Away; SU Taken With Teal & Summer Sun inks; Vivid Red ink; McGill 1-1/4" square punch; SU scallop trim border punch; The Twinery Lemondrop baker's twine; Forever in Time pop dots

Embellish Magazine Color Challenge: Quirky-Cutesy-Clean Style

This is my first time participating in Embellish Magazine's Color Challenge. When I saw this beautiful colour combination which included kraft, I just had to do it! However, I couldn't have made this card without two new things that arrived in the mail this week: Groovy Guava cardstock from the lovely Angela, and my order of baker's twine from The Twinery. I'm not sure how I would describe my card-making style as I seem to be all over the place sometimes, but quirky-cutesy-clean seems like a good way to describe my style most of the time. That's how I would describe my personality and wardrobe anyway! ;)

For this card, I pulled the three cardstock colours I had and then decided which purpose each one would serve. I decorated the butterfly with some rhinestones and created antennae and a body using beading wire. Since I only had baker's twine to represent the sea foam colour, I looped that around the frame three times and tied it off. I wish I had ink in fresh foam or peach for the sentiment but since I don't I had to settle for crumb cake. This card has several layers and I wish it would've photographed better. I guess only the recipient will enjoy its true beauty. Heehee.

Sources: SU Kraft, Naturals Ivory & Groovy Guava cardstock; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Crumb Cake ink; PTI Fillable Frames #4; PTI Butterfly Dreams; PTI Birthday Basics; PTI In Bloom impression plate; PTI Fillable Frames #4 die; PTI Butterfly die; QuicKutz Epic Six; The Twinery Caribbean baker's twine; SU Basic Rhinestones; Lewiscraft 24 gauge stainless steel wire; Forever in Time pop dots; Glue Dots pop up relief

Pink Cat Studio ~ Aug 19th Digi Release!

Good morning! Before I get to today's new digis I'd like to introduce you to Blobby, the newest character to join the Pink Cat Studio family!! He is cute, funny, sweet and cuddly. You'll definitely want him in your creative arsenal! Let's have a closer look at Blobby, shall we?

In his debut, there are three different images of Blobby offered and with any PCS purchase today only, you get Shopaholic Lily free! Blobby is just one of those little characters that fits the bill between masculine and feminine, boyish and cutesy. I decided to feature Blobby in a masculine birthday card to show his versatility.

This card was so easy and fun to make! First, I picked two fun yet masculine colours for my base. Then I impressed the front of the card and adhered the sentiment strip which was created by repeatedly stamping the Happy Birthday circle from Party Farm Animals. With a little cupcake in the centre, it's one of my favourites from the PCS rubber collection! After colouring Blobby to complement the cardstock, I popped him right in the centre close to the bottom of the card with glue dots.

When I showed the finished card to my son, he smiled, reached out with his arms and pursed his lips. He wanted to give Blobby a kiss! LOL It was one of those adorable, heart-warming moments I never want to forget! Thanks for stopping by today to share this new release and welcome dear Blobby to the PCS family, and maybe even yours! ;) I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sources: SU Basic Gray & Tangerine Tango cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Blobby Topsy Turvy Cake; Pink Cat Studio Party Farm Animals; SU Basic Gray ink; Copics; AtYou Spica glitter pen; PTI Sunshine Impression Plate; QuicKutz Epic Six; Glue Dots pop up relief

PaperWorks Co. Ultimate Summer Challenge #1 - Sketch

This is my creation for the PaperWorks Co. Ultimate Summer Challenge! I decided to tackle the sketch portion of the challenges which is to use the sketch shown at left. I flipped the sketch horizontally for my card. The rules state that the card cannot be a square or a rectangle. When I realized that the largest Labels One nestie wouldn't be big enough for the layout I had in mind, I decided to create a "new" shape of card. I figured, if the Labels One nestie is just a square with brackets, I'll create brackets on a rectangle and it will no longer be a rectangle! ;)

All contestants were generously provided with Always By Your Side from Chi Chi Memories to use if we didn't have any PaperWorks Co. stamps. Every member of my team (more about that later) will feature this image on their project! When I first saw this digi, my first thought was, "What happened to that poor elephant?!" Elephants are so grand that it takes a lot to injure them and this poor thing looks like he's in so much pain. He has an ice pack on his head, gauze on his back, a bandaid on his cheek and the little bear is swabbing a fourth area! Oh dear.

As everyone knows, the elephant is a very large animal and could probably use more than one caretaker so I decided to print a second, larger bear (with an even larger doctor's bag) to help nurse this poor elephant back to health. I wanted the larger bear to be comforting the elephant as well as helping him hold the stick with the ice pack. I also wanted him to be putting up the bandaid signage that has the sentiment on it. The sentiment and fence were adhered flat against the cardbase, the elephant is popped with slightly raised pop dots, and the large bear and his doctor's bag are popped with higher glue dots. Since there's so much going on in this little scene, I felt that additional embellishments were not necessary.

Here's one last look at my card against a white background.

Last but not least, I'd like to introduce my incredibly talented teammates Angela, Donna and Meg! Our foursome is endearingly called Creative Critters. My teammates will be completing their portions of the PaperWorks Co. Ultimate Summer Challenge over the next couple of days. Please be sure to check out their creations and vote for our team in the poll that will be posted on the PaperWorks Co. blog on Sunday, August 22nd. We'd love to have your support, even if it's just for fun! :D

Angela Donna Emily Meg

Have a wonderful evening and I'll see you again tomorrow!

Sources: SU Night of Navy & Real Red cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Chi Chi Memories Always By Your Side; HOTP Tiny Words & Images; Vivid Red ink; Copics; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One; QuicKutz Epic Six; Martha Stewart picket fence border punch; Forever in Time pop dots; Glue Dots pop up relief

RAK from Angela

A while back, Angela and I decided to do a swap of cardstock and designer paper. You know, my garbage is your treasure and vice versa. I received her batch of cardstock today and this lovely card came with it! I love unexpected little gifts like this. Thanks so much, Angela! All the details for this card can be found in this post on Angela's blog. :)

Enter the World of Ferrets and Weasels

A while back, a friend of mine who is a mom to five ferrets (yes, you read that correctly) asked me to make a sympathy card for her friend whose weasel Toot passed away. She didn't want a typical sympathy card but more of a remembrance card. Weasels live an average of four years but Toot lived six years which made him seemingly immortal so his owner took it very hard when her Little Dinky Doughnut Chicken Man died. I know, the nickname sure makes you chuckle, doesn't it? Toot got this nickname because he was tiny, about the size of your hand. If anyone moved at all, he would run fast like a chicken and hide. Still, he was a tough little chicken. If you left your hand out, he'd take a chunk of you with him as he ran! Or so I've heard.

I made this card 5.25" x 5.25" because I needed the extra space for my design. When my friend sent me photos of Toot, I knew I had to incorporate them into the card which I made in the style of a scrapbook layout. When I signed up to receive Unity's KOTMs, I received a bunch of free stamps and these scrolled frames were included. I used those to highlight the photos of Toot. The background images stamped in black are all from Unity's July 2010 KOTM except for the Forever in our hearts sentiment which is Verve.

To create the background, I stamped the images along the left side first, then added the big lace frame on the right. I angled the frames but didn't pop them on 'til the end. I wrapped the Verve sentiment around the frame, stamped a heart from Tiny Treats: Valentine overlapping the top of the frame and added a clear rhinestone accent.

To create the focus sentiment with Toot's nickname, I used the short dotted lines from Top Ten to spell out each word. Just before cutting the strips, I used the Outlines Alphabet to subtlely ink his name in the background. Did you notice that? My husband said, "That's so cool." ;) Here's a closer look.

I cut the strips, centred them over the lace frame and added a final rhinestone. When I finished this card, I admired it for the longest time. Then my husband said, "You made a card for an animal. Your friends are going to think you have a heart of gold." LOL Isn't he the sweetest? It was nice to hear that because I put off making this card for the longest time. It's never easy to make a sympathy card but I really dreaded making this one since our cat is suffering from cancer. I do love this card and I hope it'll bring a smile to the recipient's face and help her remember her wonderful little Toot.

Before I go, I thought I'd share some photos of our Pit'r with her late brother Hobbes who was a ferret. He passed away while my husband (then boyfriend) was living in Italy. Hobbes is buried in the courtyard of a 13th century castle. Talk about a majestic resting place. We visit him whenever we're in Italy. Pit'r and Hobbes got along really well. Hobbes was the older brother and he thought his sister was a stuffed animal so he loved dragging her around. Pit'r would pretend to hunt Hobbes as if she were a cheetah and he a Thomson's gazelle in the wild serengeti. She'd pounce on him to start wrestling matches but Hobbes would always win! My husband would always have to step in and separate them.

Sources: SU Kraft & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Unity July 2010 Kit of the Month - Happily Ever After; Unity frames; Verve Forever in Our Hearts; PTI Tiny Treats: Valentine; PTI Top Ten; PTI Simple Alphabet; PTI Outlines Alphabet; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Crumb Cake, Rose Red & Pink Pirouette inks; SU Basic Rhinestones; Glue Dots mini dots & pop up relief

CAS79: Grow Love

Hello, and thanks for stopping by today! I hope you're enjoying the weekend so far! I used the leftovers from making these cards to make a second card for this week's CAS79 Challenge: Gardens. I had die cut the flowers in all three sizes thinking I would use them but the large ones just didn't fit into the sketch. I cut this card at 4.25" x 5" and hung the chartreuse flower 0.75" off the edge to make this a 5" square card. The flourish stem(s), flowers and polka dots are Papertrey Ink, and the hearts and sentiment are Unity. The sentiment is one I hadn't inked yet and I thought it would be perfect for this week's garden theme. The hearts in the centres of the flowers are from the wings of the owls shown in this card. See you again soon!

Sources: SU Kraft & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; PTI Fancy Flourishes; PTI Polka Dot Basics II; SU Pink Passion, Kiwi Kiss, Taken With Teal & Crumb Cake inks; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; PTI Beautiful Blooms II #2 die collection; PTI 100% wool felt in Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores & Simply Chartreuse; QuicKutz Epic Six; McGill 1-1/4" circle punch; Glue Dots mini dots & pop up relief; Ranger Diamond Stickles

Choo Choo! You're 2!

Up comes the yellow sun! Blue train Thomas starts his run. Those are the first two lines in one of my son's favourite Thomas & Friends books, Blue Train, Green Train. This is the card I made for my son's second birthday which was yesterday. Anyone who has a boy knows how much little boys love Thomas, right? We celebrated on Saturday so yesterday was a bit more relaxing. I told him he could do whatever he wanted (within reason, of course) since it was his special day. I let him eat his breakfast on the couch but when he insisted on riding his bike to pick up his birthday balloon, I suspected there might be trouble. He was getting a mylar Thomas balloon filled with helium and little did I know how big it was going to be. As it turned out, the balloon was about the size of him and his bike combined! He wanted me to tie it to his bike. He was fine for the first 20 feet or so but got upset when the wind started whacking the balloon against his helmet and the ribbon kept getting caught around him. He refused to budge until I removed the balloon. Of course I ended up having to carry it home attached to my own bag, but not before stopping at the park to play (again his choice). This balloon was the bane of my existence until we got home an hour later! LOL Well, my sweetie loves it and that's what matters, right? I hear these things last for up to three weeks. Yikes.

My son has wrecked all the other cards I gave him but he loves this one so much that he has it displayed next to his farm and whenever it falls over, he props it up again! Oh, does that ever make me happy!! You might ask, did he notice the little animals? He did and he was so happy that a little dog was driving the train! SU's Choo Choo set is the first set I bought for someone other than myself. My sweet boy totally deserves to have a stamp set of his own. Of course he can't use it yet but I'm sure he will and I can't wait 'til the day he starts crafting with me! Until then, I'll be making a lot of train-related things that'll make him smile.

On another happy note, I was Heather's Pick for Dawn's On Color Cue {6}! When I started doing Dawn's Color Cue Challenges, I did them just for fun to challenge myself with new colour combinations. I was completely shocked and excited to be one of the picks for Color Cue {6}. Thank you, Heather! Three cheers for me. Hip Hip Hooray! Now I really can't wait for my very first set of Wplus9 stamps, Magical Moments, to arrive in the mail. ;)

Sources: SU Wild Wasabi & Whisper White cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Choo Choo; SU Right on Track; PTI Tiny Treats: Valentine; PTI Up, Up & Away; PTI Birthday Basics; SU Summer Sun, Basic Grey, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Ballet Blue & Crumb Cake inks; Versafine Smokey Grey ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; Glue Dots pop up relief