The new eP!

Hey everyone! I have been keeping a secret from you all and so has Kim Schofield! Kim has recently treated herself to an early birthday present and purchased eclectic Paperie!  She has re-hauled, re-stocked and re-established the store with all kinds of new goodies for the-relaunch and decided that her birthday was the best day to showcase her gift to herself :) She also has a brand new design team and guess who's on it? I'll give you one guess ;) Me! And I'm pretty darn excited too!

So in honor of Kim's birthday, let's help her celebrate by checking out the new goodies in her new store! I have used some of the wonderful goodies that she sent to me to create this fun campfire card :) I used two of the Market St. Stamps sets - Gone Camping and Woodgrain for the campfire and decorative panel and combined it with the fabulous papers from the My Mind's Eye Lost and Found line. I also used my Tombow markers to water colour the campfire and then sponged in the background using various inks and stains. I then added some little Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen dots to create a bit of a twinkling sky :D Lastly, I finished off the card with some twine, raffia and buttons from my Buttons Galore and More Color Blends Mint Cooler set.

Because today is the re-launch of the store, there are some exciting specials offered! You don't want to miss out on any of these!

• The first 25 orders receive a free sample paper pack of Carta Bella 12x12 papers

• Mystery Shopper - at midnight on 8/15 one shopper will be randomly drawn and will receive their entire order for free

• Order the Summer Seasonal Distress Ink set and receive all three coordinating reinker s for free (while supplies last)

•  25% off on select items (these will be listed on the eP blog)

Thanks for joining me today and don't forget to check out the rest of the eclectic Paperie Design Team! These girls are incredible and will have some lovely projects to show you! Happy Birthday Kim and here's wishing you the best with your new business!

eclectic Paperie Blog

Kim Schofield

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Julie Masse

Michelle Daigle

Micki Harper

Sherry Cheever

Tammy Hershberger

Tenia Nelson

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Market Street Stamps - Gone Camping and Woodgrain
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Rosy
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Ranger Distress Stain Chipped Sapphire, Wild Honey, Baja Breeze, Bermuda Bay, Pacific Pointe, Sahara Sand, Basic Grey
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Dies, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Chalk Pencil, Water Brush, Buttons Galore and More, Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pen, Raffia, Twine

Wild About You!

This week I officially immersed myself back into card making...design teams and all :) I am thrilled to announce that I am once again a Trendsetter for There She Goes! It's great to be home because I have really missed these ladies!

There She Goes just announced their new team and not only do I get to work with most of the same fabulous stampers again but now there are some new fabulous ladies joining the team with me and they are: Kim O'Connell, Laurel Seabrook, Wendy Ramlakhan, and last but not least, the very talented Candace Pierce :)

So to celebrate being a Trendsetter again, I decided to make a card with the TSG Zoo-pendous set with the very fitting sentiment of "Wild about you". Because I love everything about Jessica Knutsen and the rest of the girls at TSG! Did I mention that I'm thrilled to be back? Home, sweet home! :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes Zoo-pendous
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, We Are Memory Keepers, 3 Bugs
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Caramel, RD Vintage Photo
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Scissors, Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water Brush, Chalk, Glossy Accents, Ribbon, Button, Stick Pins, Corner Chomper.

Come and meet the team!

Hi everyone! It's official. The iSpy Sketches blog is up and running and we are ready to introduce the Special Agents (AKA the design team) to the world! So why don't you join me in welcoming these wonderfully talented ladies and watch out, because they are sure to blow your socks off with the fabulous eye candy that they have coming your way :D

Don't forget that next week is our debut sketch and we hope you will join us in the fun!

PS: I even made a card for the occasion! But you will have to just wait and see on that one ;)

A New Year, a dose of reality, a recycled idea and a foot in the door...

Now that title is a mouthful isn't it? ;) Hello to anyone out there in cyber space that still may be listening! I know that it's been quite a while since anyone has heard from me so I thought that I would pop in to say hello.

June 8th was the last time that I posted on my blog and it seems like a life time ago that I left you all without any explanation. Few of you know that I, like many of you deal with depression and sometimes it rears it's ugliness right when I'm about as busy as I can possibly be. Part of may absence deals with that and the other part deals with being so busy that I actually burnt myself out and shut my self out of the stamping world. And I mean no Splitcoast, no visiting blogs, not stepping foot into my craft room for months, thoughts of selling all of my stamping goodies, and not much interacting at all with the community that I loved so much, including not answering some very sweet emails from you all that were wondering where I had gotten too. For that I'm very sorry! Part of my depression hangs on not wanting to deal with reality and for me I was waiting for my "blahs" and "blues" to just blow over in a timely manner which of course they didn't :( All and all, I think the mental break from stamping came at a good time because my life ended up getting a whole lot busier!

Let me catch you up to date. Since my retreat into my own little world some good things came of it and some not so good. Some of you know that last February my father in law had a heart attack and stroke and that left my husband 2 hours away trying to help with his father a lot of the time on his days off. At that point I had started working again and started to pair down on my design team responsibilities to accommodate my lack of crafting time.

In July we adopted a 12 week old Labrador Retriever cross from a rescue center in Alabama :) We named her Bella and she as been a wonderful addition to our family! Just like a toddler, she required constant supervision ;)

This past summer was the first time in a few years that I was able to do a lot of fun things with my family and not have to say "Sorry, but mommy has to make a card for her deadline" leaving my husband to enjoy doing the fun stuff with the kids. Please don't take that as a complaint in anyway but I was a very slow worker when it came to colouring and making a card so I literally spend 4-5 hours making one card and that time added up when you had to make a handful a week, photograph, edit and blog about the card after creating it.

When September rolled around, life got insane! The kids were back in school and the sports frenzy started! I'm now proud to be a soccer mom and a swimming cheerleader for my daughter :) Who knew working around my husbands messed up schedule, and juggling sports and child care would be so crazy? I'm kind of a one-step-at-a-time kind of a girl and I don't even think that I had time to breath until Christmas break! LOL

With breaking from stamping/blogging I have spent many quality hours being there for my kids, getting my head on straight and as of the end of November losing a total of 25lbs from walking my dog for the most part...daily. I'm very proud of myself and and starting to feel like the me that I used to be :) So you all must be wondering where I'm going with all of this, right? Well on to my recycled idea...

Just before I dropped off the face of the earth I had an idea to start up a challenge blog. The idea came about because I really enjoy participating in them and mostly coming up with the challenge ideas. I thought that if I started a weekly challenge then I could administrate it, and have a design team all while taking a step back from the creating cards. This way I could still be in touch with all of you and keep some creativity in me going. Well it didn't pan out when I had originally planned, however it has recycled itself and is going to happen now instead :)

 Here is a sneak peek at my foot back in the door to the stamping word! I'm in the process of scouting my design team and look for the debut on February 3rd, 2012! Stay tuned for more details ;)

I'm not sure where my card making will take me or if I will even get back into the groove with it but at least this will allow me to dabble in what I love while I motivate my creativity and hopefully yours :)

Thank you to all who have been waiting around and to those sweet souls to checked in on my through my missing months! I love all of you guys so much and I'm ready to make a fresh start for the year, how about you? :)

Stay tuned.... :)

Blog Candy Winner!

 

So, you all remember the Stamper's Dream/JustRite blog hop that took place on Monday? You know...this one? Well, I'm pretty darn excited to announce that my blog is one of the Mystery Blog Candy location! Yay! That means that the winner from my blog is Lori!
 

Lori said...

Your coloring job is lovely and really makes the card.

Congratulations Lori! You have won the prize pack from Stamper's Dream (pictured above) and it's valued at $50. Please email Michelle (michelle@stampersdream.com) with your mailing info and she will get your goodies out to you right away :D

To see all of the results of the blog hop, please click over to the JustRite blog for all of the "official" info and have a great day!

PS: Thank you for all of the wonderful comments on my post! Sweet words make rainy days wonderful and I sure got a lot of them :D

A Friend in Need

Hi everyone :) Just before Christmas my friend and former design team leader (CDStamps) Katie Renz was diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Because she has been sharing her story with us on her blog, I will let you read her day to day challenges as written by Katie herself.

Katie has friends all over the web and a friend of hers, a lady by the name of Jak Heath who is in the UK gathered some of us together to create a large grouping of digital images in order to raise funds to help pay for some of Katie's medical expenses.

I was lucky enough to be able to donate a set of digital images called Recipe For Love and this set will be found in the grouping with countless illustrators that are very well known for their digital images and their stamps :) You will only be able to purchase this set from Jak Heath's blog and all proceeds will go to Katie.

If you have a moment could you please hop on over to Jak's blog and see if you can help by donating - you will come a way with many gorgeous images that are exclusive to this cause. We would love it if you were to help spread the word because everything goes to help my friend and truly amazing woman, Katie.

Thank you for your time and have a great day :)

Pssst, wanna know a little secret?

This is just a little teaser of the last announcement that I promised to make, but you will have to click here to find out what it is ;) 2011 is off to an amazing start and I just have to say that I'm thrilled! :D

A Little Sketch for You to Try!

Happy New Year! Since new years are all about fresh starts, Jen del Muro of the Sketch For You To Try blog is doing a sketch challenge re-haul. January 1st marks the first time that her challenge is a monthly sketch challenge instead of a weekly challenge and guess who gets to be the Guest Designer for the month? You got it! ME! *squeal* :0)

Here is the January 2011 sketch of the month:

Remember that you can use this sketch all month long and find new ways to create different looks with it - it's supposed to be a challenge right ;)

For my card I used one of my Stamping Bella images called Aptee 'Tude and this little cutie came with the matching sentiment. I water coloured her with my tombow markers and popped up only one layer to keep the image only semi dimensional. My project was an altered journal so I wanted to keep it mostly flat for ease of writing ;)

The sky was water coloured and sponged and the grass was done with my prisma pencils and some gamsol. All of the designer papers were both embossed for texture and sponged for some definition and the journal is approximately 5".

Thank you so much to Jen for asking me to Guest Design for her challenge this month and to Alma of The Cat's Pajama's for offering to sponsor this month's challenge!

Thank you all for coming by today and don't forget about my last special announcement for the month coming to you via my blog post tomorrow ;)

Journal Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Aptee 'Tude
Paper: Espresso, Water Colour, Cosmo Cricket DP, Amuse DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Chocolate, Caramel, Baja, Teal
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Curved Rectangles Dies, Corner Chomper, Brads, Sponges, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water Brush, Prismas, Gamsol, Crystal Effects, Martha Stewart Mini Heart Punch, Kraft Journal, Dimensionals, SU 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Prismas and Gamsol

New Things for 2011!

Hi everybody! I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 will bring you joy, prosperity, health, laughter, many friends and dreams coming true :)

2011 has already brought me some wonderful things to share with you and over the next couple of days, I will have some announcements to post. Today, to get you all started (and me) I get to announce that I have the amazing opportunity of joining Michelle Rogers and her Stamper's Dream Design Team! Woo Hoo!

I am thrilled at the opportunity to work for both a fabulous company and their amazing designers! Thank you so much Michelle for having me and I can't wait to show you all some of my Stampers Dream creations!

Be sure to swing on by here tomorrow for yet another announcement :D

Stamping Island Style 2010 - Last Chance to Register

Hi everyone! I'm just sending around a little note to let you all know that today is the last day to register for the Stamping Island Style event happening here in Nanaimo on October 16th. You have until midnight tonight (October 12) to submit your $30 registration fee so that the caterer will know how much food to make :)

So, just what is the Stamping Island Style event? This is an event to meet up with some old stamping friends and to meet some some new friends along the way :) There will be some stamp companies represented including: There She Goes, Amuse, Clear Dollar Stamps, etc.  The morning will consist of make and takes including a Tombow Marker demo/make and take by me and will have a catered lunch. After lunch, we will open it up to a crop and I there will be an assortment of stamps for you to use, a cuttlebug, spellbinders dies, and slice so that we can all craft together!

Jessica Knutsen from There She Goes will be providing goodie bags and there will be draws throughout the day for door prizes donated from Glenda Wyatt of Amuse, Jessica from There She Goes, myself and Angela Thomas. There will be lots of goodies to go around! :D

If you are traveling over by ferry then please just let me know and I can arrange to pick you up and give you a ride back to the ferry at the end of the day to save on some traveling costs.

To register, please contact me at kim.teasdale@yahoo.ca or go directly to the blog and use the paypal button for immediate registration. There are only 30 seats available and registration is on a first come, first served basis

Pardon the mess....

...but we are under construction! Please ignore the goings on of this blog while you are viewing...especially if things are being moved around before your eyes! lol

I am in the process of re-vamping my blog and it may take me a day or two to get it all sorted out but hopefully it will be worth the wait :D

Thanks for your patience!

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

This of course would be in reference to back to school! Yes it is certainly that time of year again and the doors have opened for the fall semester over at My Creative Classroom, and guess who's back with some more classes? ;)

Classes for Fall 2010:

Water Colouring with Tombow Markers: Starting Tuesday, September 21st and will run weekly for 6 weeks. Cost is $50 USD and online classes are through My Creative Classroom.

Click here for more details on this class.

Sponged Ink Backgrounds: Starting Tuesday, November 2cnd and will run weekly for 4 weeks. Cost is $30 USD and online classes are through My Creative Classroom.

Click here for more details on this class.

I'm excited to be able to bring you these classes again as I didn't think that I would be able to teach this fall due to some home renovations that my husband and I had planned. We have since worked out a schedule to accommodate everything and I'm back in the classroom for the start up of the Water Colouring with Tombows class on September 21st. The last day to enroll for this class is October 1st. This is a 6 week long class with a new lesson uploaded once a week.

I am also teaching the Sponged Ink Backgrounds class starting November 2cnd. You will have until November 13th to enroll and this is a 4 week class that will have a new lesson uploaded weekly.

Thank you to everyone who emailed both MCC and myself to enquire about my classes! I have the best students ever!

If you have any questions regarding online learning, please feel free to email me and I hope to see you all in class :D

Here I come at There She Goes ;)

So um....have you ever heard of this fabulous store 'o stamps? Yes? GREAT! If your answer was no the follow the instructions at the bottom of this post ;)

I am proud to announce that I have been asked by Jessica to be one of the newest Jr. Trendsetters on the There She Goes DT! EEEEK! I just love these stamps and have drooled over them for quite some time so you can imagine how excited I was!

I get to join the ranks of these very talented girls:

Jessica Knutsen (Owner, Illustrator, and DT Coordinator)
Holly McMillen (Senior DT)
Jessie Knight (Senior DT)
Jodi Collins (Senior DT)
Sandra McLean (Senior DT)
Danielle Lounds (Junior DT)
Donna Wardle (Junior DT)
Heather Pulvirenti (Junior DT)
Me!!!! (Junior DT)
Lisa Henke (Junior DT)
Mercy Kerin (Junior DT)
Pam Varnell (Junior DT)
Chris Dark (Illustrator-new)

Can you feel the talent just ooze out of this new group of Trendsetters? I can't wait to get inky with these girls! Now since my blogger is still being pooey, you will have to click on the blinkie on the left hand side of this post or the logo above to visit the There She Goes Store and blog for the formal announcement. While your there take a lookie at all the galleries and blogs of the girls listed so that you can share in my ogling ;) If you answered "No" to the "Have you ever heard of this store before" question then you better just march your patootie over there and have a peek ;) lol

Thanks for having me Jessica and I only hope that I can do your fabulous stamps the justice that they deserve :)

And the Winner is....

...me and this cute little fellow from Inky Antics! Are you wondering what I'm talking about yet? ;) A couple of days ago I stumbled upon the Tombow USA Blog and noticed that they were having a little contest for one of their new 10 piece Craft Collection sets. I thought to myself, that I had a new stamp that I wanted to colour and a few spare minutes so why not? The contest was that you had to submit a piece of work using the blender pen technique that was demonstrated at CHA. They have a little video here if you are interested in learning it.

Am I the only person in the world that never uses a blender pen to blend their markers? (I use water) I'm thinking that I must be because this technique was new to me and was a little bit out of my comfort zone. I found that it provides a much softer look much like prismas and OMS together - I ended up choosing darker marker colours to achieve some of the intense colours that I was looking for. After a bit of playing around I finally felt comfortable using the blender pen and away I went to create this cute little 4 1/4" square card :)

Yesterday, I entered my card to the contest a few hours before it closed and I received an email this morning that said I won! I am so excited! Yippee! This is the set that I chose and I can't wait to play :)


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Inky Antics, Clear Dollar Stamps
Paper: Gina K, Watercolour, Chocolate, Cosmo Cricket DP, K&Co DP
Ink: Black, Olive, Sky, Chocolate, Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Button, Pop Dots, Ribbon, Linen Thread, Tombow Markers, Blender Pen, Sponges, Craft Knife, Dew Drops, Clear Embossing Powder, Corner Rounder, Cloud Stencil, Crystal Effects

With Love

Aren't these mice just the cutest? Can you believe that I have had this stamp for over a year and it's never seen ink? It's a crime, I know ;) I actually have about 10 Penny Blacks that have yet to see ink, but shhhh...don't tell my hubby!

I was feeling in the Valentine's Day spirit a little early and wanted to ink up these guys so I got busy and made this "could-be" Valentine's Card because the image is just so sweet. These little mice scream "pucker up" but alas, I didn't have a stamp that said that to match *sigh*




I water coloured these little guys with my tombow markers and a water brush, and then cut them out to layer them. I then sponged the blue background in and then placed my mice on it to spotlight them and then added this little metal rose embellishment that I found on sale :) I just had to have them...it was like a gravitational pull towards the pretties...an uncontrollable impulse. Ok, maybe not but I do think that one fits right at home on this card - it's like a match made in heaven :)




While making this card, I got to use one of my new Martha Stewart Punches too...ok, maybe I used a couple of those punches but only because I scored a wicked deal on them at Michaels for 60% off the already reduced price and I have been absolutely itching to try them! Just sayin' :) I paired the mini hearts punch up with my cuttlebug dies to make this fun little tag. I love how this card turned out and am thrilled that I finally inked up this stamp that has been very lonely on my shelf!



The time has come that I can announce that my Water Colouring with Tombow Markers class is open for enrollment again! This class is a 6 week online class and starts on Feb 2, 2010 - that's only 2 1/2 weeks away peoples :) The cost is $50 USD and it's perfect because you can learn on your own schedule, with printable information and videos with moi for your viewing pleasure ;) Come and join me for the fun and learn how to use your markers along the way!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Penny Black, SY Yummy
Paper: Gina K, Watercolour, Red, K&Co DP, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Black, Red, Baja, Mustard
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug Dies and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nesties, Pop Dots, Sponges, Clear Embossing Powder, Metal Rose Embellishment, Ribbon, Linen Thread, Martha Stewart Punches, Dew Drops, Corner Rounder

Quick and Easy Note for You

Does this really look quick and easy? It was for me because I found this little leaf that I had pre-coloured some time ago so I put it to good use :) It works for me especially since I was in need of a little note card earlier today! I love it when things work out like that :)

I feel as though I got alot accomplished today especially for getting things done in between dealing with some sick little ones. Taiton and Ashlynn haven't been feeling well and lets just say that there have been alot of cleaners and towels used! Poor babies!

In going with my New Years Resolutions for wanting to sell off my rather substantial stack o' cards that threaten to fall on my head, I actually got off my patootie and set up a Card Shoppe that is attached to this blog and doing a few little tweeks around here too (chat box and card widgets). What a task that was! It took me most of the day to get it *hopefully* running smoothly, so if it doesn't then please let me know right away!

My little Card Shoppe is where I will be selling altered items, note cards, A2 and irregular shaped cards....what does that really mean? Basically anything that isn't a 5 1/2" square card will be sold here. When you head into the shoppe you will notice a link for card auctions - that will take you to my eBay cards where all of my larger "deluxe" cards will be auctioned off :) Hopefully with doing this I will be able to move some of the cards off my shelving to make room for...more! Hehehehe

I only have a few cards listed right now because I want to make sure that it works properly, but I will start listing more of my stash soon. These cards will remain in my store until they are sold and then I will remove the posts. Please make sure to pay attention to the card sizing as I am selling all shapes and sizes of cards :)

Thanks for coming by today and what are you waiting for? You know you wanna take a peek *giggle*


Card Recipe:

Stamps: SU Natural Beauty
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Black, Basic Grey DP, My Mind's Eye DP,
Ink: Black, Olive, Chocolate, Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Dies, Ribbon, Button, Sponges, Pop Dots, Water Brush, Tombow Markers, Mini Brads, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool, Linen Thread, WW Punch

Welcome 2010 and and the wonderful things to come!

My silly little New Year miracle started a little early! A few of you who have followed my blog from the beginning may remember that I used to sell my cards on Ebay. Well, after 10 months of being away from it all, I have to say that it's time to get back in business and liquidate some cards!

Life was a little more than hectic in 2009 with life in general and DT commitments so my little business was temporarily put on hold. As things wound down for the year, I noticed that my large shelving units could no longer support my card making habit and starting to cave under all the paper craft project weight!!!! OK, I may be exaggerating a little but there were times when cards almost came crashing down on me ;)

Anyhoo, I have made a few resolutions for the new year and had some spare time today, so I have 3 active listings starting at 6 PM tonight! If you are interested in taking a peek, you will notice a button that says "where to buy my cards" along the sidebar. Please click on it and it should take you to my auctions. Please pay careful attention to the sizing of the cards as I will be selling cards of all different sizes including 4 1/4" square cards that need a loving home :)

This has been a long time overdue and I still get asked when I will be listing my cards again, so come and get 'em ladies!!! I will try to keep consistent listings and will be auctioning off some of my cards that appeared in the Dirty Dozen galleries so that I can clear some space for new projects :)




While I'm predicting the future here I have also been asked if I'm teaching more classes over at My Creative Classroom and the answer is "Yes"! I will be teaching my Water Colouring with Tombow Markers class again on February 2cnd and this is a 6 week class. I will also be teaching the Sponged Ink Backgrounds class starting April 7 and this is a 4 week class. Enrollment for these classes start mid , January, but have no fear as I will keep you updated with more details soon!


Have a wonderful New Year everyone and please be safe in all of your ventures tonight! My 2010 bring everyone much joy and success and many dreams coming true!

Hanging out the holidays with the Dirty Girls and ornaments too!

Hey everyone! Long time, no posts! I'm back and I can explain!

4 weeks ago, my trusty laptop (my beloved laptop) started developing a mind of it's own and crashing on a regular basis. Ordinarily, that wouldn't have been such a large issue but this was happening while I was teaching my online classes and therefore couldn't send in my computer for repairs.

I grinned and beared it until the last upload into my classrooms when all of a sudden my computer crashed and burned and decided to play coy and not start up again. Frustrated and disheartened I finally decided that it was time to send her in for an exorcism ;)

That brings me to why I have been unexplainably absent from answering emails, posting and well...life in general. You really don't realized how much you depend on your computer daily until it's in the hands of someone else! I have managed to borrow my dad's laptop while getting caught up on my workload (all due to not having internet access for a week).

This all brings me to today...I will be getting my laptop back in a few hours and hopefully she will purr like a kitten ;) To celebrate I decided to share with you a little something that I have been working on - well two things actually! The first being the Christmas ornament that I created for the November Dirty Dozen challenge of Hanging out the Holiday's with Ornaments :)

Both the Dirty Dozen and the Dirty Dozen Alumni get together once a month when we have some time and participate in a challenge just for fun. This month was my turn to be the hostess so I thought it would be fun to challenge the girls to create and ornamet for ANY holiday of the year including obscure ones. The only stipulation was that the ornament had to hang from something. That turned out to be quite a challenge when taking pictures at 1 am and needing to use a small lightbox! My ornament does actually hang, but it's hanging rather gently from a glue dot affixed to the back wall of my light box...the things I do to try to get to bed quickly I tell you ;)

This ornament was created using a stamp set that I picked up from Walmart for $5! What a steal! The poinsettia is actually quite large and it came with some holly leaves and a "For You" sentiment :0) I was quite happy to stumble upon this find that's for sure! I water coloured up this baby with my tombow markers and an aqua painter and then assembled this ornament following the instructions on Yvonne's Blog. - Um, if you haven't seen YvonneAna's work, then you haven't lived! She's amazing!!! Thanks Yvonne for sharing your gorgeous creation for me to case ;)

The last thing that I wanted to share with you was an exciting tid bit of info. Heather from Skipping Stones Designs has asked me to be her guest sketch artist for the month of December. The sketches will be found on her website every tuesday and I will be featuring her very sassy stamps. I hope you all will join me for that fun little adventure!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Pointsettia Trio from Walmart

Paper: Gina K, Red, Watercolour
Ink: Versa Mark, Caramel, Red
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter, Gold Embossing Powder, Sponges, Pop Dots, Mini Pearls, Hardware, Ribbon

Spreading a little love with a blog hop!

A little while ago I was incredibly saddened by a story that I had heard on the news about a vicious attack on a family leaving a mother dead and her 11 year old daughter struggling for life. I then recently came across a thread in the SCS forums looking for volunteers to spread a little love and hope to the little girl - Jaimie Cates while she is both recovering from her physical wounds in the hospital and grieving for her mother. You see, a small group of wonderful ladies organized a blog hop in order to raise awareness of violence and to hopefully flood Jaimie with cards of prayers and well wishes for her recovery and the challenges that she still faces. Here is the story behind today's post:

On October 4^th, 4 teenagers armed with knives broke into a home in a small town in New Hampshire. Alone and sleeping inside were a mother and her 11 year old daughter. These 4 boys broke into this home with the intent to rob and kill anyone inside. They stabbed the mom, Kimberly Cates, to death and left her daughter, Jaimie, for dead in their driveway. It was a completely random act, their home was chosen only due to its secluded surroundings."

Our hope is that everyone hopping around today will stop for a moment and think about Jaimie and her father and what life must be like for them now. One moment in time has changed their lives forever. We are asking that everyone reading this message please take a moment to make a card and send it off to Jaimie. You can make something very simple or much more involved, but please share some words of hope and love and let her know that people do care and want the best for her. Please send your card to the address below:



To find our more about how you can help and links to the newscasts, please visit the Stamp Something for Jaimie blog. There will be prizes but most of all...appreciation for anyone who can help to brighten a little girl's day...even for just a second :o)

Let the blog hop begin! If you arrived here from Deena's Blog then you are in the right place! If not, please start hopping from the beginning at Katherina's Blog.




This is my card for Jaimie. I wanted a whimsical image with a simple little "thinking of you" sentiment and I chose to used a Penny Black image mostly because they always make me smile and hopefully this card will put a smile on Jaimie's face.

I used this week's CPS card sketch to jump start the direction that this card would take. The goose has been water coloured with tombow markers, cut out and paper toled, and most of the designer papers have been run through my 'bug. I ended up going with some spring colours because they are cheery and they fit right in with my image ;o)




We would love for you all to join the rest of us blog hoppers by making a card to send to Jaimie Cates! Don't forget that your card can be as simple or as detailed as you like because every good thought is appreciated and will show Jaimie that she has alot of support from people that care all around the world :o)

Now get your pogo sticks ready and hop on over to Tanjii's Blog and don't forget to have fun along the way! Thanks for joining me here and we will see you at the finish line ;)


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Penny Black, Clear Dollar Stamps - Moosing You
Paper: Gina K, Olive, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye DP, Basic Grey DP, K&Co Dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Pink, Olive, Mustard
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Nestabilities, Sponges, Clear Embossing Powder, Aqua Painter, Tombow Markers, Pop Dots, Ribbon, Eyelets, WW Punch, Designer Punch, Piercing Tool