Sites of the week

…and new stamps {and CutUps} dies are now available from The Cat’s Pajamas.

Did you make it to the release party on the TCP forum on SCS? I popped in for a little while, but I have to say that I was totally drained after running from Nic’s doctor appt. and then to get a chest x-ray and to the pharmacy a couple times after getting a call that it may be pneumonia. What a Monday! Here’s to a better rest of the week!

As the title of this post suggests, this is a HOP! If you didn’t come here from my friend, Carole’s blog, take minute to rewind to the beginning so you don’t miss a bit of all the new goodies from TCP.

I have had a lot fun with all the new goodies from TCP! I have a couple more projects to show. First, this cutie patootie bunny hanging out in an Easter basket asking for some more SUGAR, SUGAR on a card I made for the new TCP Tuesday Challenge…embossing! Check out all the details with this week’s Hipster Hostess with the Mostess, Julie.

Sugar, Sugar…

I also used the new Eggs in a Basket and Grass Cutups dies {wrapped with Divine Twine}…

I {heart} the new Eggs in a Basket CutUps die! I used it again {along with the new Heart Rosette CutUps} on my ATCs that I did for a TCP swap…

As I said above, I am drained from a {very} long day, which was after a {very} long night filled with Nic coughing {and coughing!} and thunder loud enough to shake the house. Fortunately, it did not wake Ellie who is **not** a fan of thunder. So, I am keeping the chatter to a minimum, heading to bed {can you tell I am pre-posting?} and sending you to the next stop along the hop…

LORI’S BLOG!

We finally go the rest of the Christmas decorations down last night! I am trying to make a point of all the Christmas decor being put away before Nic’s birthday so that he feels that there is a clear separation between birthday and Christmas. Any of you December/January moms have advice on this subject? My mom has a December birthday and growing up none of the Christmas decorations made an appearance until after her birthday, so I am trying to go along with that way of thinking in hopes that his birthday will be a celebration all by itself. I know my “thoughtfulness” on this will be lost on the 2 year old, but I know that I am putting the effort forth…at least.

It’s tough to be in a birthday frame of mind when all I have piled on my desk is pink, red and white. If Halloween is my favorite holiday to create for, I must say that Valentine’s is a super duper wuper close second! I love all the girly colors and details and there are so many cute puns to work with, too! I already have the stuff for Nic’s shovel “I Dig You!” Valentines…so cute {and totally not my original idea!}.

Of course, I will be sharing pics of those once they are all made, but today I have something better to show you…more NEW stamps and CutUps dies from The Cat’s Pajamas! Today is Day #2 of Sneaky Peek Week and it’s beginning to look a lot like Valentine’s with this new bunny set, Feelin’ Cupidy…

It’s been a while since I created a large-ish 3d paper project, but I was inspired by the shadowbox that Amy Rohl {my Christmas Secret Sister} gave me. You can see pics of her project HERE on her blog…so cute, right? I am one lucky chickie to have that in my possession! I was about to turn it into a Valentine’s shadowbox when…lightbulb {said in Dr. Gru’s voice}. Why don’t I make my own shadowbox from paper!?! With a little trial and a little more error, this is what I came up with using the new Feelin’ Cupidy set {along with some other new stuff!}…

The sides aren’t as super straight like I wanted them, but it works for me. I’ll try to perfect the design in the weeks to come, though! Let me walk you through each of the boxes for now, though.

Cupid himself mounted on the new Heart Rosette CutUps die…

Sentiment from the Feelin’ Cupidy set, along with a heart from the Heart Trio CutUps die set and a Bingo card that will be discussed a little more in detail as Sneaky Peek week continues {wink wink!}…

Banner on the top left box, using sentiments from the Feelin’ Cupidy and Gimme Some Sugar {peeked yesterday} sets…

Banner on the opposite side with hearts cut from the Heart Trio CutUps die set and adorned with a button tied off with new Peppermint Divine Twine…

****Pennant banner created by cutting the new Queen of Heart CutUps scallop die in the center of the scallops and mounting the sentiment letters {from Gimme Some Sugar set} on circles…****

Lots of hearts cut from this CutUps die set…

Want more peeks at all the new goodies coming out next Tuesday? Check out Alma’s blog daily for a full list of Cat Packers posting their creations.

Before I break the record for longest blog post, I am going to cut myself off here. Well, almost here. Don’t forget to check out the IN IT TO WIN IT thread on The Cat’s Pajamas’ forum on Splitcoast each day for a chance to win the set being sneak peeked that day. You gotta be IN IT TO WIN IT!

Welcome to your next stop along the October Verve Diva Inspirations Blog Hop…whew, that is a mouthful! Yep, it’s a hop, so be sure that you start at Julee’s blog. She also has a the full list of hoppers there, just in case you get lost along the way.

The best man from our wedding and his wife are expecting the arrival of their first baby soon. I had a lot of fun shopping for some itty bitty baby boy clothes the other day with Nic. Nic did more running around the displays and licking the floor to ceiling mirrors than actually helping me shop, but it was fun nonetheless. Yes, that’s my kid that you see and ask “Where is his mother!?” Ahhh…boys!!

Of course, I couldn’t send a gift without a card! Here’s what I came up with using the latest Mojo Monday sketch as a bit of inspiration {flipped and loosely interpreted} and the TO THE MOON stamp set from Verve…

Buttons are my go to embellishment of choice these days. I couldn’t let a baby card go without a slew of coordinating buttons…

The “Snips & Snails” sentiment is stamped on a Tagged Rectangle die cut and I added the “Oh Boy” sentiment cut with my SU! circle punches…

Detail shot of the ribbon treatment…

I’ll keep ya hopping along now! You are off to Lynda’s blog for some more fabby Verve inspiration. Don’t forget to leave a comment at each stop along the way for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve store where EVERYTHING is currently on sale and 10% of proceeds will be donated to Susan G. Komen.

Monday morning greetings, my friends! Did ya hear? Verve released NEW STAMPS & DIES on Friday! Are you wondering why I didn’t do a whole bunch of sneak peeks leading up to the great event? I’m sure it’s been on your mind…hahahaha! The Verve Design Team is now actually 2 teams. I am on the Inspiration Team, which will be focusing on bringing new light to some older sets throughout the month. {You can read more about the teams HERE}. I’ll get to the older sets in a couple of days, but for now I HAD to play with LOVE NOTES, one of the new releases…

This may be my favorite Valentine’s set from Verve EVER! Great sentiments {duh, it’s Verve}, cute images and a TWO DIES to match! I used the Jotted Heart Die to cut the stamped image and felt heart. I’m thinking of making some heart garland using this die! It’s a great size for both embellishments and focal points. You can see all of the new releases HERE on the Verve site.

On another note…

BRRRRRR! It is COLD here! Definitely a drastic change from what we were spoiled with last week! Yesterday we got a few snowflakes and the kiddos enjoyed playing outside…before they realized just how cold it was {or maybe that was just Tony and I}! Here are a couple of pics from our {mini} snow day…

Ellie catching flakes on her tongue…

Nic {my big ONE YEAR OLD!} with a few flakes resting on his shoulders {and lashes!}…

We also had his first birthday party this weekend. Pics to come!

Stay warm and happy stamping!

I’m pretty sure that’s what Nic was thinking when I snapped this shot…

Hahaha! This picture cracks me up! I have to tell you, the first few months after Nic was born were ROUGH…to say the least. I think he’s turned a corner and life might be a little easier from here on out. I can dream, right? Nah, I really it’s gonna be easy breezy {as compared to the first few months} from here. He’s developing a very cute little personality and this picture just captures him being a little goofball.

As much as I could go on and on about my kiddos {as seen by the past 3 posts, too}, I will move on to the craftiness part of this post. TONIGHT is the big release for THE CAT’S PAJAMAS! There will be TWELVE new sets and FOUR new die/die sets available. I have been working my little {a relative term} hiney off getting all these samples done. Last week I showed my Dracula project, which at the time was my fave of this release. It’s fallen in the rankings to be a close second to my WITCHY card here…

A couple of detail shots…

I love playing with new Halloween images! These ones from TCP are fun and are great to color or paper piece. I chose to color this lil’ witch and then use my Sakura Stardust pen and rubbing alcohol filled aqua painter to create an all over glittery effect. I dove into my Halloween embellies and dusted off some that I fell in love with when I purchased them, but then they sat and sat until a card to perfectly marry them with was made. The calendar page is from Jenni Bowlin and the little spider is K&Co. The button is topped off with some of that great TCP Divine Twine that I can’t put down. That open pinked border is also from TCP and is one of the new CutUps that is part of this release.

As I noted earlier, TONIGHT is the big release. We’ll be having a release party on our forum on SCS from 9-11pm EST. There will be games and prizes, so I hope that you will join us!

I’ll leave you with one more picture of Nic from that same photo shoot…

Kinda cute, right? Check out that tooth!