Sites of the week

Before I dive into the meat of this post, I just want to say that Austin was great. I had a wonderful time hanging out with my brother and his family. {Pics to come} I didn’t stay for the entire swap on Saturday, but really enjoyed meeting new people and seeing “old” friends.

I know that I have mentioned it in the past, so I am sorry if I sound like a broken record. Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. I am not that much of a fan of getting dressed up or doing the whole Halloween party thing. Over the last few years, I have become increasingly more interested in Halloween. I LOVE Halloween images and all things Halloween-y when it comes to paper, embellishments and all other things stamping and paper crafting related. I am also VERY excited for Ellie and her Halloween experiences. She already has her costume and Grandmama is flying out for that weekend. It should be great fun! Of course there will be pics, so stay tuned!

For the last twenty-seven weeks Tuesday have had a new meaning for me…TCP Tuesday!! Today marks the 28th week of this weekly celebration, and I am glad to say that I am your Hipster Hostess With The Mostess. I have a fun inspiration challenge for you. Check out this pic…

Here’s my sample. You can see that I played off the Halloween theme with the black and white color scheme. Feel free to take from the inspiration pic what you will. Just have fun!

EVERYONE can play and this is what you are gonna wanna know…
1. Each a week one of the The Cat’s Pajamas DT Members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, color, theme/inspiration, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until {this} Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on this week’s hostess’ challenge announcement. This week you will link your project ON THIS POST.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword TCPTUES28 for this challenge.
8. Alma will post the entries from the week the following Monday on her blog.
9. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.
10. Oh yea…HAVE FUN!

Hey there! I’ve got A LOT going on here today! First things first, it’s WORLD CARDMAKING DAY! As I noted a couple days ago, this is a holiday {yes, it is!!} that was started by Paper Crafts Magazine few years ago in an effort to bring card makers together. You will find a variety of links on the World Card Making Day site, including lots of inspiration and a place to share your own work! Keep reading until the end to find out how this ties into my blog candy.

As you may know, each month I bring on one person to be the Designer Of The Month here at iheart2stamp. This month, I am so happy to present to you Nancy Riley, aka Stampinat6213. Please give her a warm welcome, and of course delight in her card creation.

A little about Nancy in her own words…
What an incredible honor it is to be Jen’s October Guest Designer! Jen first offered this opportunity to me just as I was preparing to return to full-time work outside of the home for the first time in 13 years. At the time, I couldn’t even imagine how I would possibly find the time to do anything FUN like this! After several weeks, I am still completely out of my element working full-time away from home and miss my role as SAHM, but have discovered that I’ve just GOT to make time for stamping! It is truly something I’m passionate about that brings me so much satisfaction and enjoyment.

I’ve been married for 18 years, and am Mom to my teenage daughter and teenage son. I was born and raised an Iowa farm girl, and have lived in the Arizona desert for 22 years.

Here’s today’s Sketch For You To Try…

Here’s my sample using my “new” SU! stamps and colors {FINALLY!!}…

Nancy’s darling card {I love this color combo!!}…

Check out the samples from a few of my friends, Amy R., Amy S., Carole, Shannan and Susan!

Wanna play? Here’s what you should know…
1. ANYONE can play.
2. Have fun with this!
3. When uploading to SCS, use the keyword SFYTT.
4. Post a link to your blog or gallery on this post.

BLOG TART TIME!!!
Each one of you that participates the Sketch For You To Try and links your card to this post will be entered to win a special edition magazine from Papercrafts. I also want to sweeten the pot by throwing in a new stamp case from MFT and 2 MFT sets, and how about some ribbon too!!??!!

Go forth and create! I will announce the winner of the blog candy next Saturday, so you have lots of time to play!

Tomorrow is World Card Making Day! HERE is more info about this special day. Of course I will have a Sketch For You To Try and each participant will be entered into a drawing for a special edition magazine from Paper Crafts and I might just have to sweeten the pot a bit with some MFT goodies!

As for today, I want to share with you one more project that I did for the My Favorite Things release. This image, as well as all the like images previously released, are from artist Annie LaPoint. With this particular stamp, I created a plant stick/garden marker/whatever you want to call it.

Detail shot of the pot, which is paper pieced and covered with Diamond Glaze…

You can see more samples from the release HERE at SCS. See you manana!

Thought that you gals might want to see THIS POST over on my friend Lesa’s blog. How cool is that!?!

Tomorrow I am cruising down to Austin for the Austin Shoebox Swap. I can’t wait to catch up with a some “old” friends and, of course, meet some new ones. My project is the little mini pumpkin that I did HERE. That was A LOT of cutting…and stamping {I pre-stamped everything!} for 45+ people. Swaps always sound so fun until you have to prep for them…LOL! I’m excited to see my bro and his family, too. I haven’t seen them in about 2 years, and they live just a few hours away. It’s amazing how time flies!

If you haven’t heard the buzz, Saturday is WORLD CARDMAKING DAY! <--Link to find out more-- This holiday {yep, that's what it is!} was created by Paper Crafts magazine and is celebrated on the first Saturday of October each year. Paper Crafts magazine has provided me with a copy of a special edition magazine that I will be giving away to a random Sketch For You To Try participant. Be sure to check out this coming Saturday’s post for more deets!

Thank you to everyone that partied hardy with us last night in the MFT Forum. You can still get Free Shipping today and tomorrow by using the code FREESHIPPING. Here are a few more cards using the latest releases from My Favorite Things…

COOL TIP: The Scallop Edge Punch and the Word Window punch from SU! have the same size ends. This makes it super easy to create a multi-colored border/awning!!

Paired with Cosmo Cricket Girl’s Biography paper…

The above pic uses paper piecing, which is this month’s My Favorite Guest challenge. All deets can be found HERE.

I love this sentiment! The DP used on this card can be found HERE.