What's New, Pussycat? Welcome Ana and Leigh!

Ana and Leigh have both joined the amazing DT at The Cat's Pajamas! Their work is absolutely beautiful: check out Ana's blog here and Leigh's blog here, and I'm sure you'll agree. Please join me in welcoming them to the team!

Today I made this card with stamps from two companies: the stamp of the girl on the chair is by Inky Antics, and "What's New Pussycat?" is by The Cat's Pajamas (of course!). Patterned paper is from the Autumn Leaves MOD Collection.

And this week I have been experimenting with the Gamsol technique which basically allows regular colored pencils to give the effect of watercolors. There's a tutorial on the technique here if you'd like to check it out! I liked it because I felt I had a little more control over the distribution of color than I do with watercolor pencils and blender pens. Let me know what you think!

Today's the day!!

Hurry on over and check out the brand new website for The Cat's Pajamas!! It looks just great, and is super-easy to navigate! Alma has been working overtime making it just perfect - and I think you'll agree she has done a great job :)

Don't forget that those Fall and Winter images I've been teasing you with are now available for purchase - and the Winter ones are in clear acrylic! Woo hoo!! I'm off to the Post Office this morning to mail Beth's set out to her; I can't wait to see the creations that the 3 lucky ladies come up with!

TGIF! It's time to go shopping!!

Drumroll please.....

Our winner is BETH!! Congratulations, Beth! I will get that set of amazing acrylic stamps out to you asap :) Enjoy!!!

Thank you to everyone who entered - not just for this drawing, but also for the other two in the past week. It was so much fun being able to offer this blog candy, I may just have to do it again some time!

And don't forget - August 31st (yep, tomorrow!) is the release date not only for the Fall and Winter lines of stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, but also for the unveiling of the new website! Check it out here!! It's groooovy!

Happy stamping, everyone! I'll be back tomorrow with another creation. Now, I need to go and find out why Big Brother wasn't on tonight.....I get cranky if I don't get my fix of reality TV! LOL!

And the winner is....

BLUEMOON!! Bluemoon, I have emailed you for your details and once I receive them I will mail you set #2 of these acrylic stamps :)

Just 2 days to go until the new stamps are officially released from The Cat's Pajamas, so the next giveaway (yes, I have one set left!) is to do with the number 2. Here's what you have to do: go over to The Cat's Pajamas gallery (link here) and browse the fabulous cards Alma and the DT have created, then come and leave me a comment telling me what your two favorite releases are (Summer 2007, Fall 2006, etc.). There are 4 great pages of ideas - ENJOY!

I will draw the winner at 10pm MST on Thursday!! Happy browsing! And here's a holiday scrapbook page made with the awesome new stamps!!

DT news and other stuff!

Wow! I am so excited and honored to be able to post that I have joined the DT for My Favorite Things Rubber Stamps! Kim (see her blog here) has made me feel very welcome already and through the magic of blogging I already know Ana, one of the other DT members: check out her work here - it is beautiful!! Her use of color is really something else :) In the next week or so I will be working on my first set of cards for MFT so watch this space for more creations!

And...so far we have 87 comments for the drawing for our second set of new stamps from The Cat's Pajamas! The deadline is midnight, so first thing tomorrow morning I'll post the name of our winner...and get their happy mail out to them! Our first winner, Liz, should be receiving her set by the end of this week - according to the lovely lady at my Post Office :)

Here's a photo of the kids on the first day of school. So far, so good! Jamie talks happily about the routine in kindergarten, and Nattie talks about everything they're doing in 5th grade as well as what's going on with her friends, so life is good!

I'll be back bright and early with a holiday scrapbook layout, the announcement of our winner, and details on how you can have a chance to win our third and final piece of blog candy from TCP! 'Night all!

Thank you

Thanks everyone for the overwhelming response to the giveaway! I am so glad Alma gave us these sets to use for blog candy; it is a great feeling to be able to give someone a surprise telling them that they won :) This time tomorrow I'll be drawing the name of the winner of the second set of TCP stamps - so stay tuned! And - there will be one more set up for grabs just to keep the excitement going before the release day this Friday!

Today's card is one I made for Hampton Art during Breast Cancer Awareness month last year. I thought I'd share it here! They came out with a limited edition ribbon stamp and I used it to make hands on the clock :) Thanks for stopping by, and have a fantastic Tuesday!

Another giveaway?!! Oh, alright then!

Yep, you heard me right! I have another set of spiffy acrylic stamps from The Cat's Pajamas. It's a different set from the one Liz won last week - and just as gorgeous!! All I'm going to show you is a card made with two stamps from the set:

So, what do you have to do to be included in the drawing for these stamps? It's really simple: just leave a comment telling me what your favorite theme of stamps is: for example, birthdays, flowers, Christmas, birds....the list goes on!

Everyone who leaves a comment between now and midnight tomorrow (Tuesday) will be eligible for the drawing, and the lucky winner will be announced on Wednesday morning!! Good luck!

Saturday mornings...

I love Saturday mornings. I love waking up and realizing after a couple of seconds that we don't all have to rush out of bed :) The kids usually sleep till around 8, then we hear the rumblings downstairs: Tasha being let out of her crate and the kids going outside with her; breakfast cereals being poured or the microwave warming up cinnamon rolls; cartoons being turned on; and inevitably the arguing over something :)

A break from TCP today after all the excitement last week :) Today's card was made with scraps from some Rhonna Farrer/Autumn Leaves patterned paper and a flower that (I think) came from one of the Jenni Bowlin kits.

Have an awesome Saturday!

And the winner is......

Liz! I used a random number generator here, and Liz is the one who got lucky! Congratulations! I left a message on your blog for you to email me - then I can send you your goodies :)

Thank you sooooo much to everyone else - and remember, I do have some other sets available, so keep watching! A little cat (Sprinkle, perhaps?) also told me that over on Karrie's blog there will be blog candy available over the next few days too! So be sure to check out her site right here. Good luck everyone, and thanks again!

In the meantime, here's another card....

Another card for you!

I hope everyone is having a great day! This holiday card is another with the fabuloso Winter line from TCP - I am blown away by how many of you entered for the blog candy yesterday! And for those of you that haven't entered yet - you can still enter till midnight tonight; the drawing will be tomorrow morning! See the post below for details :) The patterned paper here is one of my favorite new lines - "Infuse" from Basic Grey - I was able to use it as a nice change from the usual holiday colors and still make this little penguin stand out and be the center of attention :)

Oh, and in addition to the new stamps being released on August 31st, Alma will also be revealing the new website for TCP! She has been hard at work revamping it and I can't wait to see it!

The kids had a fantastic day at school yesterday. It was a good sign when they came off the bus smiling :) Tired, but smiling :)

Gramps :)

Today's blog challenge on Two Peas is to write about a special memory with your grandparents. This is a photo of my grandad who lives in England. He's in his mid 90s but still lives alone and is out every day keeping busy with one activity or another. When my nana passed away in 1993 we really didn't think he could do well without her around, but he has proved the whole family wrong, I am glad to say!

Gramps is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. I have never known him to say a bad word about anyone, and the memories I have of him are all special. I remember when he and nana lived in Mansfield, England we would visit from Scotland a few times a year. We would always have fish-n-chips from the local "chippy" for lunch and Gramps would drive me in his old Ford Escort. He'd always wear his shirt and tie, and when we went out he never went out without his hat and polished shoes - even if it was just to pick up our lunch! His back garden was an amazing place for me as a child: he had a greenhouse where he grew tomatoes and other vegetables, and there was always an animal of some kind that had taken a fancy to his garden. I remember him showing me birds' nests in the hedges, a toad in the mud, and caterpillars changing into butterflies.

I am a lucky girl!

Blog candy! Get your blog candy here!

So....here's one set of the new Winter stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, generously donated by Alma, the amazingly Creative Cat over there :)

To be entered for the drawing for this fabulous set, head on over to the website, browse the stamps and let me know which are your 3 favorite images. Everyone who leaves a comment with their 3 favorites between tonight (Tuesday night) and Thursday night (midnight) will be entered for the drawing and the lucky winner will receive this fabulous set of acrylic stamps! The quality of these stamps is outstanding...you will love them :)

I'll announce the winner on Friday morning - and don't worry if you don't win this time around, because I have 2 more (different) sets to give away!

I've also posted a card using some of the stamps shown here :) Enjoy, and good luck!

School registration - and another card :)

So, we went and registered at school this evening and everything went very smoothly :) It was all organized well by the school/PTA so that everyone could get their paperwork done easily. Of course, the big event was most exciting for the kids who could find out who their teacher is this year, and Nattie was thrilled to get the teacher she had wanted the most. I've heard that this particular teacher is all over the kids who love to write, and that is one of Nattie's biggest talents. She's in for a great year :)

The kindergarten teacher had set up a scavenger hunt for the little kids, so Jamie had lots of fun looking for things like the bathroom, his cubby, and the story mat. The kids were all so little and cute! His teacher was very nice too...I can't wait to hear how he does on his first day!

Today's sneak peek card is actually a tag - a magnetic one from Petaloo. I covered it inside and out with paper from the DCWV Christmas Glitter Stack and of course all stamps are from The Cat's Pajamas! Don't forget to head over to their site on August 31st when the new stamps will be ready for you to snap up and get busy with those holiday cards :) This is the outside of the tag/card; I'll post the inside later today or tomorrow. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

Hmmm...I have a funny feeling that there may be some delicious BLOG CANDY on here tomorrow too! Can anyone say "awesome new acrylic stamps"???? :)

Last days of summer vacation....

Tonight we have open house & registration at Nattie's and Jamie's school: Jamie will be going into full-day kindergarten and Nattie will start 5th grade! For the first time in 10 years I'll be alone all day, every day...quite a thought. I'm trying to be positive, though...

• I'll be able to do my school work in daylight hours instead of having to stay up till the wee hours to finish assignments


• I'll be able to clean my house in half the time it takes me when I have "helpers" :)


• I can spend some quiet time in the morning taking Tasha for a nice long walk


• I can volunteer in both kids' classes!


• The kids are both ready to go back to school, get into a routine again - and get those brains working!

I will have to keep all these things in mind as they both climb on the big yellow bus on Wednesday...

And of course here's another sneak peek card using TCP stamps. Enjoy your Monday!

And it feels like Winter, too :)

How cute are these penguins??? I think they are one of my favorite images from the new Winter line from TCP - available at the end of the month :)

Patterned paper is from the Christmas Glitter Stack by DCWV; cardstock is Bazzill Bling!

It's beginning to feel a lot like - Fall!

Here are a couple of sample cards from the new Fall line of stamps to be released by The Cat's Pajamas on August 31st. Alma has done it again :)

Check back over the couple of weeks for more cards - and there may even be some blog candy on offer!

Paper used in these 2 cards is the "Wanted" line by Cosmo Cricket. And the big heart was drawn freestyle, cut out and covered with some rub-ons from DCWV. After the heart was attached to the page I used Ranger's Crackle Medium and left it to dry overnight. I hadn't planned on the edges curling but I liked it when I got up next morning! LOL!

5th grade?!

How did that happen? How did Nattie suddenly get old enough to be in 5th grade? I know it's a cliche, but it seems like just yesterday we were holding her in the hospital - and now she's growing up fast, right before our eyes :)

Even compared to when she finished 4th grade in May, she's just a bit more sensitive, a bit more aware of the fact that bad things can happen in the world, a bit more confident... Her favorite TV show is "Ned's Declassified" - she has high hopes that middle school will be just like Ned's school - ha!! She loves Iain's barbecued steak, Hershey chocolate, and milk :) She has moved on from Polly Pocket and Littlest Pet Shop and now saves her allowance for iTunes cards to build up her song collection, or uses it to spend at Claire's on some new earrings or lip gloss.

How did that happen?

ALSO: Check back tomorrow for sample cards using the brand new Fall and Winter stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, being released at the end of this month!!

My stash...

Today's blog challenge question: how do you get rid of your (scrapbooking) stash that you don't need or use anymore? I actually dealt with that question this weekend: I went through my stuff and made neat little baggies of goodies which I am going to mail to my CJ buddies as RAK packages :) A little bit of Happy Mail for them!

Over on The Cat's Pajamas Blog, Alma has posted a little sneak peek of the Fall/Winter line of stamps. As soon as she gives us DT members the "thumbs up", I can post cards here! Not too much longer now, I'm sure...and they are well worth the wait! In the meantime, here's a card from a previous Fall/Winter line :) Enjoy! And have a great Thursday!

Weather...

Today's blog challenge on Two Peas is to write about our recent weather...this is our first summer here in CO and I am loving it. I love the fact that when the kids and I were down in the Denver area running errands this morning, it was 95 degrees - but by the time we got back to our house up in the mountains it was 70, breezy and raining :) This is one of the big reasons why we live here! The summers in the area where we lived in Southern CA were awful; the kids and I really disliked it (although Iain was happy to go and play golf however hot it was!). Our electricity (mainly A/C) bill was $600 one month!

But now we are here, in the mountains, in the 70s. And it's great!

(Photos from Summer 05)

Rainbows and Elk - and Nattie! :)

When we first moved here last fall, someone told me that Colorado rainbows can be some of the most spectacular we'll ever see. On Friday afternoon I understood what that person meant. As Iain, Jamie and I drove back from the movies, we spotted the most beautiful double rainbow. The colors were so vivid against the dark, cloudy sky, and did I have my camera with me? Of course - not! I didn't even have my cellphone with its teeny camera in it! I learned my lesson though...because you never know when that great photo opp will present itself. So...as a little cheat...this rainbow photo is from our trip to Maui 2 years ago! LOL!

Iain went out to play golf this morning and Jamie and I took Tasha for her morning walk. It rained on us all the way round and it felt great! We didn't get soaked; it was just heavy enough to keep us nice and cool :) Then, when we got home there was a huge elk standing in the middle of our driveway; he was so proud and majestic, and went steadily on his way at his own pace....

Nattie is coming back from CA tonight! This is the first time she has flown as an unaccompanied minor and she flew out on Wednesday to visit our good friends in Murrieta for a few days. From what I can tell, the girls had an AWESOME time and Nattie was thrilled to have a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain - her favorite theme park :) Iain and I were nervous wrecks when she flew out there, but didn't let her see that - she did an excellent job and this is just one more reminder of how grown-up she is becoming! We can't wait to see her at the airport tonight....

Friday! And communication...

This has been a looooong week, not as far as family life goes, but with school. I'm doing a degree online through University of Phoenix and one of the most frustrating parts of the process is that in every class there are Learning Team activities where a group of 4 or 5 students work together on an assignment.

Let me just say this: discussing things online is nowhere near as easy as face-to-face. There's not that immediate reaction when someone "says" something; you can't read people at all easily. I find it a very difficult forum to deal with.

But hey, it's Friday! Iain and I are taking Jamie to see Ratatouille this afternoon - for the second time :) And tomorrow the two of them are going out so that I can do some work on my school paper and some more designs for The Cat's Pajamas :) Have a fantastic weekend!

Today's blog challenge on Two Peas: Are you the kind of person who would rather use 35mm film or do you prefer digital prints? I was a 35mm kind of gal until a couple of years ago when my camera was stolen in Maui. When we came back and did some research, it seemed that digital was the way to go. I've learned that it is much better for practising my photography skills because I'm not worrying about wasting film, and I love that I can email my photos to family and friends back in the UK. I print my photos at home and enjoy having the flexibility to resize and print at whatever size I need for my project :) My favorite toy right now is my macro lens; I have tons of fun with close up photos - you know, things like cat faces and candle holders...

Puppy class was just OK last night. At the initial class in Week 1 (owners only), there were only 5 puppies which seemed like a perfect class size. Last night, though, there were 9 puppies there, plus 2 or 3 owners per puppy and it was just too much in that confined space. I'm going to give them a call today because the trainer mentioned that perhaps we could split into 2 back-to-back classes, which I think would be better all around. Tasha enjoyed herself, did really well with the other puppies and seemed to pick up the couple of commands we went over. Nattie was really paying attention and Jamie was fascinated with all the different puppies that were there :)

It's overcast here today; only in the mid-60s which seems like the perfect kind of day to go and make some cards! Jamie is watching his newest favorite movie, "Firehouse Dog", and Nattie is downstairs practicing her piano and cleaning up her room. So I plan on making the most of it and at least squeezing in an hour of quiet(ish!) time! Have a great Tuesday :)

Quiet time, and puppy class

I had lots of quiet time this weekend. On Saturday Iain took the kids out and Nattie got her eyes tested; it turns out her vision has got worse and she now has to wear her glasses almost all the time. The positive side of this is that she chose some really cool ones that she has no problem wearing!

I was a busy bee! I had a team paper and an individual paper to finish by today for school, and I wanted to make a start on samples for The Cat's Pajamas Fall/Winter stamps. I have lots of ideas buzzing round in my head, although it's hard to think about Winter when it's 75 outside :) I can't wait to show the stamps to you. All in good time.....

This morning Nattie has swim lessons and this evening we have Tasha's puppy class. From what I could tell last week (when it was just us owners there), she'll be the oldest (and biggest!) puppy there. The trainer told us to come armed with our puppy's "million dollar treat" as rewards, so we're taking - Life cereal!

Alma :)

The owner and amazing creator of The Cat's Pajamas rubber stamps, Alma, gave me a shout out on her blog yesterday. What she wrote really made my day! Alma is absolutely the best person to work for on a DT - she communicates with us all the time, she is super-generous with our benefits (aka goodies!), chooses great gals to be on her DT, and best of all is a good, warm-hearted person whose artwork makes lots of people smile.

Thank you, Alma!

A day in my life!

Here's another CJ layout - this was another fun one to work on: "A Day in My Life". Since we're on summer break right now, I decided to do my layout from the perspective of what things will be like here in 3 weeks when both kids are at school full-time....