jessy's b'day

Long time, no see! My niece Jessy's nickname is kittie ... hence I'm always on the lookout for cute kitty stamps. I found this one at the Mega Meet held last month in Novi. It's one of 4 on a cube stamp, and I used another of the kitty images with the inside sentiment. And isn't that mouse adorable too? Another Mega Meet find, this time from Judith. I thought he looked like he could be carrying something heavy - in this case, a gift card and lighted candle - OR holding his hands up. Either way, he's sweating bullets 'cuz he's been spotted by the friendly kitty!

I'd uploaded this to Splitcoast as my blog mirror posts to Facebook and I didn't want the card spotted 'til after the birthday party, then forgot to post it here! I've been SUCH a slacker lately, I know! I DID get some stamping time in this weekend, but the cards are intended for Facebook buddies so they'll get uploaded here eventually ...

stamps: Inky Antics' kitty cube, Judith's mouse, studio g's happy birthday candle; paper: Staples; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU and Tri-C watercolor markers

let's hang out!

I was out supporting the local economy this weekend and foolishly told my stampin' buddy Pat that I didn't need her extra coupons to use at Jo-Ann's ... 'cuz I was originally only heading there to check out bunny buttons. I perused the buttons (found some cute bunny and chicks and cheshire cat ones), an ensemble gift pack for something coming up shortly, and then headed to the checkout to peruse the stamping mags before checking out (FYI, at least our local Flint store has started carrying the Northridge Publishing mags). Turning the corner to the checkout line, I came across some dollar stamps, at which time I promptly placed my cart out of the way and started checking the stamps out. I limited myself to 11, but had about 20 in my grasp at one point.

Today's card uses some stamps from 3 of the 11 sets - an inside sentiment from one, outside sentiment from another, and birds and birdhouse from yet another. Stinkin' cute birdhouse though, don't you agree? They had 4 scripty sets similar to this birdhouse - the other 3 included a bird, a butterfly, and a camera - that I couldn't pass up. So here's another one-layer CAS card to welcome in spring!

stamps: Hero Arts' Whoo Loves You, Inkadinkado's spring and summer assortment minis, My Mind's Eye's Union Square "Perfect" Stamps; paper: Staples' white card stock; ink: Color Box's lavender, rose coral, smoke blue, and yellow ochre, and SU's brocade blue

OLW39 Love Muffin

A two-fer today, the inside sentiment on this card reads,

"OK, so technically it's a Love cupcake ... but
Happy Valentine's Day!"

I used my neglected Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up most of the repeated stamp for the border but threw caution to the wind and just winged it on the top line. After all, it was a clear stamp, right?! I'm counting the heart rain dots and baker's twine as bling, so here I go, stretching all the rules in another challenge. Hey, it was INSPIRED by Susan R's One-Layer-Wednesday challenge, anyway!

You know that ultra creamy and light whipped frosting that's methinks mainly whipped confectioners sugar? Well, that was what we got to play with on Friday in the Great Court where I work (insert shameless plug for Kettering University here). Provided were heart-shaped sugar cookies, 3 different color frostings, and a variety of sprinkles for decorations. I made a couple cookies for my two sweeties who picked me up from work. It was also my boss' birthday so the Sodexo group who run the cafeteria at work had made her a chocolate-chocolate cake, which I got to sample (and take 4 slices home for dessert!). So ... I'm figuring it was a good idea that I put in some extra walking over the weekend; don't you agree?! (grin) Anywho, I used SU's white shimmer paint to mimic the frosting (long story short, you say?!). We had a special heart smart promo going on and one of our gifted carpenters/woodworkers fashioned a pretty kewl heart backdrop for assorted pictures. We were encouraged to wear red, decorate cookies, and have our pics taken. Well, I did 2 out of 3, anyway ... but here's a picture of my scrappin' buddies (L-R) KimmiR and Brit (and KimT - and they're all lunch buddies too)!


stamps: Inkadinkado's Birthday Cupcake, The Cat's Pajamas' Loving Mew; paper: SU's Kraft Crumb Cake card stock; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Kraft Crumb Cake and Whisper White; accessories: Cloud9 Design's heart rain dots, The Twinery's Maraschino baker's twine

OLW39 You Light Up My Life

Susan Raihala's one-layer-Wednesday challenge this past week was a CAS-ification of a gorgeous card by Vanessa Menhorn that was published in the current issue of Papercrafts Magazine (see page 74 or Susan's post here). Here's another pretty darn literal CAS-ification of it. We were to use 1) an image, 2) a border stamp (or stamped border), and 3) bling (rhinestones or glitter). Hmmnn ... in this case, my image is a stamp and my border ("stamp (or stamped border)") is actually PC-generated using my CK-Ali's Handwriting font and the sentiment, "You light up my life!" repeated for 5 lines, with one highlighted in red ink. I chose to use the 3 bling as the 3 crystals closest to us on the chandelier.

I dunno if this will even qualify for the challenge, but I have another card under way that will if this one doesn't! Thanx for stopping by, regardless. It was fun to get a little inky this afternoon!

stamps: My Mind'e Eye's Lost & Found; paper: The Paper Co's white cards 'n envelope set; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: Hero Arts' asst'd sizes gemstones

OLW37 meets CAS102

The lovely and talented Susan R (aka LateBlossom on SCS) of Simplicity blog fame issues a One Layer Wednesday challenge weekly, and this week's OLW37 (check her post if you're planning on playing along) is to use at least two sentiment stamps and no images to create a one-layer card. She mentioned we could use ribbon if we must ... and, well ... YEAH! I'd recently picked up a ribbon share per sé of 15 yd sections of 8 different colors of baker's twine from The Twinery and had been itching to use it!

It was either this winter-y collection of sentiments or a heart-shaped collection of "love-y" sentiments similar to the card I made a couple days ago for another sketch challenge, but I spotted that the heart idea had already been used by a few people ... so ... what do you think?! Me likey the way it turned out!

The "meets CAS102" portion of the post title is for this past Wednesday's Clean And Simple challenge at SCS, and this week it's a sketch challenge based on one of design team member cindybstampin's recent cards. So, today's card is a "two-fer!" I probably will file this one away to use next Christmas, but I've left the inside blank in case I pull it out for a winter birthday card.

stamps: Art Journey's Noel, Amy R Stamps' Snowflakes; paper: Staples' white card stock; ink: Color Box's Teal pigment pad; accessories: The Twinery's Caribbean twine