Sunday, November 30, 2008

Happy Birthday my one and only!


Happy Birthday to my baby! Yep, she will always be my baby, she's 25 today! (and gonna kill me for posting this pic of her, haha!)

Been a busy weekend, we have just been all over the place, clear out of state even. Had to try that new car out right? LOL! So needless to say,no cards! But I be back on track come Monday!

--Cat

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Stamp Simply Challenge, Express Thanks!

Hi all! Happy Friday and welcome to another Stamp Simply Challenge from Sharon (and if you read my previous post, you would know that Sharon is having a special celebration starting Monday Dec.1st! with lots of prizes, games and inspiration!)

This week's challenge is a super simple one! We were to make a card expressing thanks...no other rules, thats it! Here is my card:



I love coffee, all flavors! And so do lots of my friends, so this card came together really quick for me. This is the new stamp set from Gina K Designs called 'My Cuppa' Joe' from the last release, such fun images in this set! I also used my new label one dies that I just got at Stamper's Dream. I was so tickled to see that Michelle had got them in so had to get them...I am thinking she might be sold out right now of them...these things going like hotcakes! I can understand why, I love them too! LOL! I colored the images with koh-i-noor pencils and OMS and did a bit of sponging ( I think I getting a BIT better at it, lol) and that's about it! Simple, fun and going to a good friend of mine.

Now, go and check out the wonderful Stamp Simply DT gals! (some may not be up as early as mine, but they will be there by tomorrow!) Here are the links below:


Sharon Johnson
Julie Koerber
Dee Jackson
Jennifer Buck
Janine Orchard
Becky Oehlers
AJ Otto
Tammy Hershberger

Ok, that's it for now! And dont forget on Monday the 'Stamp Simply Celebrates!' celebrations begins!! Have a wonderful Black Friday...I plan on doing a bit of shopping myself...braving the crowd, lol!

ETA: It just dawned on me this am that this is my last week as guest designer for Sharon...I have so thoroughly enjoyed working with Sharon and her wonderful DT! They are the most encouraging and awesomely talented team! Thanks ya'll for letting me play with you this month! I will be participating in the Stamp Simply Celebrates stuffs though, so I'll be around a bit longer, lol!)

--CAT
Card Details
Stamps: My Cuppa' Joe from Gina K Designs, distressed dots bg stamp from Unity Stamp Co
Papers: PTI cardstock
Accessories: circle nesties, koh-i-noor pencils with OMS, tag die, brads, ribbon from PTI, pop dots.

Gobble! Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American Friends! And Happy Day to all the others! Sorry no card today, have had grandson here yesterday. And I am just not talented enough to run after him and do a card too like so many of you awesome Mama's out there, lol! Guess I am out of practice! (daughter will be 25 yrs. old Sunday, so, umm yea!)

I'll leave you with ONE of things I am thankful for though...This is my Blake...my one and only Grandson! We went to the park yesterday and fed the ducks...he loved it till one got a little bit to big bite and got his finger too! LOL! It didnt bleed or anything, just kinda surprised him I think.






And here he is justa swinging! He would just laugh! Big belly laughs and when it would slow down, he would say 'more!' Anyways, that was my day yesterday!




AND I want to tell you about a BIG celebration coming up starting Dec. 1st! Sharon Johnson, a beautiful soul who I admire so much, has hit the 1,000,000 mark!! WOW!!!And in celebration of that, there is gonna be a "STAMP SIMPLY CELEBRATES"! It will be starting on Dec.1st, with games, blog candy and lots of ideas to help you out with the holidays too! You can read ALL about it on Sharon's blog here:

Get the Details HERE!

And tomorrow is another Stamp Simply Challenge! Got my card all ready to go too! Ok, that's it for today! Be safe!

--CAT

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Unity Addicts Challenge Wednesday, but on Tuesday today!

Hiya, little slow about getting this up this am cause I misread the challenge...I only saw the 'red and white' not the 'thank you part' LOL! This weeks challenge was issued by Carole, it was to be a red and white card, giving thanks in some way. So this is my quickie card for this! My other one, well, its red and white, lets just say, this time of year when I hear red and white, it involves Santa! LOL! I'll have to post it another day. But here is today's card:




Super quick, nothing special...lot of paper piercing, cant see all of it in photo though. Just wanted to get it up for the challenge today and do it right! Also, to show my love of them Unity stamps! Really, they are such excellent quality and I just love the handles! I used them for all of my stamps now, not just Unity's.

Ok, that's it for now. Got some running around to do today in my NEW car, haha!

Dont forget to check out the other Unity Addicts blogs over on my sidebar listed under 'Unity Challenge Girls' ...guess I should change that since we calling it Unity Addicts now, lol.
--CAT
Card Details:
Stamps: Unity Stamp Co.
Papers: SU! cardstock
Accessories: brads, ribbons, piercing tool and pad, grey copic marker.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Starving Artist Elf goodness!

I am just loving my DoodleFactory Stamps, Santa's Sweet Shoppe from Starving Artistamps! I have several images colored, and this is the one I put together today:




This little elf's name is Butterscot! Well, I know you see 5 of them there, but Butterscot is the one in the red and all the others are his helpers...they are decorating the tree, lol! Butterscot just waiting till they get down to hang his banner! Arent they just the cutest images? I love whimsical, so these were definitely for me! Just too cute I think. And one thing bothers me ...my colors always seem to change when I take a picture and resize, lol! Bugs me to death! Does this happen to anybody else? Probably the cheap camera I have I'm sure, but that soon will change...gonna get a new one next week...yay! Speaking of new....read on if you want to , its non stamping related!

Ok, so I got me a new car! woot!! Well, its almost brand new. It's a 2008 Malibu Classic LT with about 12,000 miles on it! I am sooo thrilled to have this car, compared to the hoopty I was driving I feel like I am driving a BMW! haha! I took one quick little picture of it to show a friend of mine that I got the Malibu I was talking about:



I plan on getting better pics later though of it. Anyways, thought I'd share that exciting news too. This week is busy for me, just like everybody else I imagine! With Thanksgiving here almost, lots of running around to do. And it's already got crazy in town here. I love the holiday season...but some folks act like they just loose their brains this time of year...and that's all I'll say about that, lol!

Ok, that's it for today! Hope everyone has a wonderful week, and its not too busy for you!
--CAT
Card Details:
Stamps: Santa's Sweet Shoppe from Starving Artistamps
Papers: DP is AC from HL, SU! cardstock
Accessories: ribbon, oval nesties, stayz on ink, silver rhinestones, copic markers, button, MS button punch, pop dots.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Stamp Simply Challenge!

Hiya all! This week's Stamp Simply Challenge from Sharon is to 'Write it on Ribbon!' We were to let our ribbon speak! This was a first for me! I had never stamped on ribbon before so that is what I decided to do:



This was a really quick card for me. I just stamped some of the images on DP, other on plain cardstock of the little quilt, then just glued them down. I had heard that you needed to use Stayz on ink for doing this, but I tried PTI's hybrid ink in chocolate brown and it worked! I did make sure I let it dry, did it first and let it lay aside while I did the rest of the card..but no smearing whatsoever! I just love how quick this card come together and I LIKE it! LOL! What a fun challenge! Now be sure and check out the awesome Stamp Simply DT! I can't wait to see what gorgeous creations they have come up with this week! Here are the links below:

Sharon Johnson
Julie Koerber
Dee Jackson
Jennifer Buck
Janine Orchard
Becky Oehlers
AJ Otto
Tammy Hershberger

TGIF everyone! Hope you have a wonderful weekend too! Thanks for stopping by!
--Cat

Card Details:
Stamps: Quilters Sampler from PTI
Papers: brown and pink cardstock from PTI, white cardstock from Gina K Designs, dpfrom PTI also
Accessories: Brad, swirly clip, ribbon from PTI, CB embossing folder, piercing tool and pad, white gel pen, decorative edge scissors

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Oooo bad blogger ..me...

I can't believe I havent posted since last Friday! Wow, time got away from me! LOL! I have a couple (or three) of cards to post today that I did for some of the challenges given during the Gina K Designs release party that was Thursday night.

This first one was a challenge that Mel issued called 'Mixology'. We were to use at least 3 different stamp sets to make our creation. I chose to make a little desk top calendar thing, that my sister has alreayd swiped when she came down Sunday, lol.



With this picture you can see 4 sets I used, but actually I used TEN!! I thought the calendar itself looks too plain so I stamped some kind of image on each calendar page. I wont bore you with 12 photos of this, but list what I used:

Daisy from Flowers for Daisy
Leaves from A Year of Flowers
Sentiment from Say it With Flowers

And on the Calendar pages I used:

Jan.-snowflake from The Magic of Christmas
Feb.-little heart with arrow from Just So Hippy
March- shamrock from Just So Hoppy
April- rain drops from Just So Hoppy
May- flowers from Little Tees
June- butterfly from Just So Hoppy
July- sparkles from Jumping For Joy
August- swirls from Whimsical Autumn
Sept.- apple from Whimsical Autumn
Oct.- bat from Happy Haunting
Nov.- pumpkin from Whimsical Autumn
Dec.-ornament from The Magic of Christmas

some I just stamped up in the corner of the page and others I stamped lightly over the whole calendar part.
All can be found at Gina K Designs

And this card was made for a sketch challenge issued by Jessica:




I was going for a rustic look on this card. My friend that purchases alot of my cards wants some 'manly' christmas cards, that would work for just a man... I think this will, dont you?

And one last card today! I so love these little trees from this Magic of Christmas set! Can ya tell? LOL! Here is a bright cheery one! This was done for a sketch challenge that Gina issued called 'On an angle' over at PaperCraft Planet (have you joined yet? It's sure is growing!!):



I paper pieced the trees on this one! Makes them kinda interesting looking! LOL!

Ok, thats all for today! Things been a bit busy for me lately, dont seem to get as much stamping done as I'd like to! My sister came down this Sunday from Bossier and we went out to eat and just visited and she got alot of goodies from me, lol! I had some Unity stamps that she really liked, the great big ones, cause she does more scrapbooking than anything, so I was a good sister and let her have them...remember that Kelli!! Yea, she's the baby of the family and will pout if she dont get her way, haha! I hope to go spend a weekend with her, either the one after Thanksgiving or the next one...and when I do I am going to go see Michelle from Stampers Dream! I havent actually TOLD Michelle that yet, but hoping we can meet then! haha! I want to do a bit of shopping in her store too...hehehe. I think its kinda neat, that someone out here in blog land lives that close to me (about an hour away) and would love to be able to meet them! Anyways, sorry for the long post, but wanted to get caught up...thanks for hanging in there with me!

--CAT
Card Details:
Calendar:
Stamps: listed below picture
Papers: DP is Basic Grey
Accessories: chipboard, calendar, koh-i-noor pencils with OMS, jumbo eyelets, hemp twine, pop dots

Card #1:
Stamps: The Magic of Christmas from Gina K Designs
Papers: bought at HL...I cant find a name on it, SU! cardstock
Accessories: oval nesties, gold cording, white gel pen,pop dots, CB embossing folder, sanding block, metallic rub paste, copic markers, koh-i-noor pencils and OMS.

Card #2:
Stamps: The Magic of Christmas from Gina K Designs
Papers: PTI cardstock, DP is AC patterned paper
Accessories: MS snowflake punch, rectangle nesties, brads, copic markers, pop dots, tag die.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Stamp Simply --Fun Folds!

Hi again all! Its another Friday and that means another Stamp Simply Challenge today! This weeks is called 'Fun Folds'. We were to make a card with some type of fold besides the typical fold..side, top. Sooo this is what I did, it's call an S-fold card:



The size of my card is a typical 5 1/2 by 4 1/4. I just cut the cardstock how you regularly do, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2...then score at 2 1/8 and at 4 1/4. Fold at the 4 1/4, like normal, then just fold the scored 2 1/8 panel UP to meet at the top of the card. On my card I used Terrifically Tacky tape to hold that top panel down because SU! cardstock is so stiff and I wanted it to be sure and hold good! One thing about cards like this, it forces you to decorate the inside too! Here is my card in the 'open' position:



This was really a super simple card to make. Back when I first started making cards, this is how I started, with folds and cut aways and cut outs! But didnt have any of the fancy tools to do it with then! So you can imagine how bad they looked! I kinda like this one! Ya'll know me and my love of bright stuff! LOL!

Ok, be sure and go look at what the wonderful DT for Sharon has done this week! They are sooo awesome!! Here are the links below, and also on my sidebar:

Sharon Johnson
Julie Koerber
Jennifer Buck
Janine Orchard
AJ Otto
Tammy Hershberger
Dee Jackson, please keep her in your prayers, shes having a bit of medical problems and is taking this week off! Also, off this week is Becky Oehlers, I didnt link them here, but they are linked in my sidebar if you would ever like to visit these two talented ladies!

Thanks for stopping by today...and so sorry been a bit scarce this week. Still dealing with my ear problem I've been having and then cleaned and that seemed to make it worse for some reason...I guess all the bending over, made it stop back up and making me all dizzy again. It just pops and everything like how it does when you are in a high altitude....At least not hurting like it was....so that tells me its better!

--CAT
Card Details:
Stamps: Bitty Christmas Tags from Unity Stamp Company sentiment from The Magic of Christmas from Gina K Designs
Papers: SU! cardstock, dp printed from Martha Stewart
Accessories: rectangle nesties, copic markers, spica glitter pens, corner rounder punch, brads, terrifically tacky tape, pop dots, miniature light set, scor-pal, CB embossing folder, piercing tool, red twine, white gel pen.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

No card yet...

But I'm here,I'm fine...just got busy. Got on a cleaning spree, lol. Trying to organize all this stamping stuffs! OMG...where did all this come from, haha!

--CAT

Sunday, November 9, 2008

I wanna be a Cowboy baby!!

Wellll, even though the Dallas Cowboys arent doing too well this year so far...my nephew Conner is still a huge fan of theirs. Remember THIS picture of him? Well this card is for him. I am sad to say though, my grandbaby saw this card on the table and said "FOOBALL!!" and grabbed it and left a few spots on it...I tried to cover it up with some shading on the hoodie, but you can still see some. Hopefully Conner wont mind though, lol. Here's the card:



And you can laugh at my hand drawn football, I did! But I guess it's not too bad if my 2 yr.old grandbaby recognized it AS a football! LOL! I made this using Mel's Just So Sporty set from Gina K Designs. (And word is out that the new release on Nov. 13th, Mel is coming out with a NEW set that will coordinate with this set and Little Tees! Can't Wait!!) I stamped the hoodied on blue cardstock and used my JustRite Stamper to do the words 'cowboys'. The little star is in the set also. I then paper pieced on the sleeves and hood part with just white cardstock, but then colored the grey in with copic marker. I drew the 'play diagram'....don't know if its correct or not, haha! That is about it!

We finally received our first paycheck from DH's new job...YAY! Now have to play catch up a bit, not too bad though, just having to put my stamping purchases on hold a bit...and with certain new releases coming up..its gonna kill me! LOL! That's alright...Ima gonna enter every contest there is to enter and challenge and maybe I get lucky and win some new rubbah! I NEED to smell some new rubbah!! haha! It's addictive isn't it?? But even if I dont, I'll be able to catch up next month for sure in my rubber obcession! Give myself an early Christmas for sure! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a wonderful lazy Sunday!
--CAT
Card Details:
Stamps: Just So Sporty from Gina K Designs, alphabet stamps from some little wood set I've had forever..bought at HL's.
Papers; SU! cardstock, dp from HL
Accessories: black twine, copic markers, koh-i-noor pencil and OMS, brads, pop dots, corner photo punch.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

3-D challenge

I made this little box for the challenge at 3-D Design Challenge Blog. A super simple template. I adjusted mine to a 3" instead of the 2 1/2 as the template is. I wanted it a little bit bigger to sit this candle in a little jar I have around here...somewhere, lmao! I swear, I put stuff up and then can never find it...one of these days I'm going to find a treasure trove of goodies! haha! Anyways, here is the box:



I used the stamp set of Mel's from Gina K Designs, the daisy in it. I was lazy and didnt color 4 daisies for all sides, so on three of the sides I just stamped with versmark and heat embossed those. I punched holes in the top edges with the little $1 punch from Michaels and then punched holes down the sides to lace the ribbon..tied a bow, added a little butterfly charm and all done! Oh, I did cover the colored flower in versamark and heat embossed it too. I like how it turned out and think it will add alot to the gift candle...when I find the candle...lol.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! It is soo beautiful here to day...little nippy, but still hard to stay in the house and stamp!!
--CAT
Box Details:
Stamps: A Year in Flowers from Gina K Designs
Paper: cardstock from HL
Accessories: koh-i-noor pencils with OMS, ribbon, $1 punch flower punch, crop-a-dile from side holes, versamark ink and clear embossing powder, pop dots.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Starving Artist Blog Candy!

Well, the illustrator for Doodlefactory stamps, Irene, has done it once again with some awesome Christmas stamps that I HAVE to have! LOL! I just love the fun and whimsical style of these stamps! I think..what I'm going to do, is have a whole week, at LEAST of doing only Doodlefactory stamps...got some that need some love! Anyways, the on to the candy. Here is the link to Starving Artist's Blog so you can enter to win too!:

Starving Artist

Go! Enter! and spread the word about these awesome stamps!

--CAT

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Stamping Simply!

Helloooo! And Happy Friday to you all! Last month, I was tickled to death to receive an email from Sharon Johnson, informing me that my name had been drawn to be the guest designer for her Stamp Simply Challenges for this month! I have always loved Sharon's challenges, and have long admired the work of the Stamp Simply DT and now here I am part of THAT! Thank you Sharon!

For this weeks challenge, Sharon called it 'Back to Nature'. We were to go outside, find whatever we wanted to use to put on our card. What fun was this! Here is what I came up with:



Can you see them? I used the scales from a Pinecone! Awhile back, I made these little pinecone reindeer into pins for my church to sell at the bazaar they were having...they were a big hit them. Only thing different I did was use felt for the antlers instead of what I did here. Here is a close up of one of the reindeer:



All I did was paint the eyes on the pinecone scale, used my Martha Stewart fern punch to make the 'antlers'! Got a rack on them reindeer going on there huh?! LOL! I did use a finger nail file to sand the pokey part of the noses and to where the rhinestone would be sure and stick. The rest is mainly just all slapped on the card, was really a quick card...what took the longest was waiting for the glue to dry! LOL! Now, go and look at the wonderful creations of the Stamp Simply DT! Here are the links below!

Sharon Johnson
Julie Koerber
Dee Jackson
Jennifer Buck
Janine Orchard
Becky Oehlers
AJ Otto


Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back nest Friday too with another of Sharon's wonderful challenges! TGIF!!
--CAT

Card Details:
Stamps: sentiment 'joy' from Gina K Designs
Papers: SU! cardstock, dp from HL
Accessories: CB embossing folders, hodgepodge hardware, oval nesties, pinecone scales, acrylic paint, red rhinestones, green ribbon, pop dots, glue, corner rounder punch, MS fern punch.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Another Purple Onion Design card.

Since I didnt get a card done today that I can post yet...hehe...I don't think I posted this card I made with Purple Onion Designs stamps. This is another one I made trying out for the DT, but didnt make it.



I liked how this card turned out myself. And this is dedicated to all of you who happen to come to my blog to look at my creations! Because I sincerely thank each and everyone of you who do and love it when you take the time to leave a comment. I do understand though how sometimes we just dont have the time, I'm the same way!

In other news... I have resigned from the Rubber Cafe Design Team. It just was not a good match for me..NOTHING against Melissa, the owner or any of the other DT...which are awesome by the way...just one of those things! It was for the best. Now, just to find somebody who WANTS me! Anybody? LOL!

You might have noticed on the sidebar that I am the guest designer for Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenges for this month...I am soooo very excited about that! I Will have the first one this Friday, so be sure and check back then! Have you seen the talent of the ladies on THAT DT?!! OMG....talk about pressure, hahaha!

Ok, that's all for tonight! Thanks for the well wishes and the emails asking if I was ok...I am, much better today, just dealing with my balance being all off, dizzy headed still a bit and the antibotics and my stomach dont get along very good, lol. Have a wonderful rest of the week!
--CAT
Card Details
Stamps: POD
Papers: PTI
Accessories: rectangle nesties, scallop edge punch, tag die, chipboard arrow, DP from HL, brads, threading water punch, koh-i-noor pencils with OMS, hodge podge hardware from SU!, ribbon from PTI, piercing tool.

I'm still around...

I got the crud that is going around and it ended up in an ear infection...which in turn I feel like I'm drunk when I try to get on the computer...balance is off. But feeling better today, whew! I didnt get to participate in this week's Unity Addicts Wednesday challenge though...Back with more a bit later!

--CAT

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Featurd Stamper Challenge

Today's Featured Stamper on SCS was BECCA . I have long been a lurker/stalker of her blog, and rarely post to her...I feel so unworthy! LOL! She is one of those stampers that always make me think...'does she EVER do an UGLY card???' You know the kind I mean? LOL! Or am I just strange for thinking that...could be...haha! Anyways...Here is the card of Becca's that I CASEd:

Becca's card

And here is mine:



I kinda like how this card turned out. It actually almost makes me smell the coffee! This card also had a war wound on it. I stabbed my index finger with the tip of my scissors as I was cutting the twine, didnt hurt real bad, just kinda made me say ouch and look at it...so continued working and just fixing to tie the beads on the twine and I have this big drop of blood right on the middle of card. YUK! It would have been hidden by the coffee panel, BUT I couldnt stand the thought of giving it to someone with a blood spot on it! LOL! So had to redo one of the underneath part circles there, lol. thank goodness wasnt all over the card though...anybody else ever have war wound from our craft? My only other one I have had was when I first got my heat gun, sucked my hair right up in it bending over closer to look at the embossing, was very first time to do heat embossing too, lol. Love to hear ya'll's stories too if you have time!

Kinda got off topic there didnt I? LOL! Well, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that Monday isnt too bad for ya!
--CAT
Card Details:
Stamps: Flourishes,Unity Stamp Co., Studio G
Paper: SU! cardstock, PTI dp
Ink: PTI dark chocolate
Accessories: beads, circle nesties, scallop corner punch, jumbo eyelets, hemp, corner ticket punch, piercing tool