Cards RAK and...I can drive again!

Here are another couple of cards I made during my marathon cardmaking session on Wednesday :) I found these old Magenta outlines stickers and decided to play around with them and my DCWV Glitter Stack. I really like how they turned out - it was quite a surprise! I colored the images with my PrismaColor pencils and then blended with Gamsol and a blending stump. I have a lot of these, so I'm going to give away a set of 5 cards similar to these as a RAK!! All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what your favorite animal is, and why. Easy, huh? I'll leave it open until the end of Friday and draw a winner on Saturday morning :)

Good news from the doctor today at my 2-week post-op checkup: I can drive! Yeah! Woo hoo! I never thought I'd be so excited about going to the grocery store - who knew?! (I'm sure it'll be a temporary feeling! LOL!) I have to go back and see the doctor again in 4 weeks but at least I have my freedom back!!

If you give a cat a photo studio in a box...

he'll want to climb in it and not come out until you drag him out! Well, at least that's what Bailey did the other day :)

Get Well Soon!

I was a busy bee up in my craft room today! Among other things, I made these two Get Well cards using older images from The Cat's Pajamas. The chicken soup one makes me smile every time I see it, and Poochie looks so cute tucked up in bed!

Patterned paper is the "Serendipity" line from Sassafrass Lass. The color scheme just jumped out at me!

Have a great evening, everyone!

Tulips! And cabin fever!

I love this Tulips image from Hero Arts. I used it to make some ATCs for a swap over on Splitcoast Stampers. I entered in 4 spots: 2 Spring Flowers and 2 Valentines so I should be getting some great pieces of work back in a couple of weeks!

Yesterday I started work on some more cards using some TCP and MFT images, just to use up some scraps I have. Hopefully I'll have them finished to show you in the next couple of days.

We have snow forecast for this afternoon! I can't believe how much less snow we have received so far this winter compared to last year. We are even able to see little patches of grass in our yard right now, whereas last year we didn't see any grass from October '06 to April '08! :)

I'm starting to get cabin fever - I've been home for 2 weeks since my surgery, apart from a trip out for a doctor's appointment (where Iain drove). I told Iain last night I want to get out and drive myself, but he thinks I should wait until after my 2-week checkup tomorrow...I know he's right, but it's so tempting to grab my car keys and run out to the grocery store! Especially when he's gone today on a day-trip to St. Louis! Who would have thought something like driving to the grocery store would sound so exciting to me! Ha ha! Anyway, wish me luck for the appointment tomorrow and hopefully the doctor will release me for driving. I'll still be restricted with things like lifting, but being able to get out and about again will be just fine with me!! Have a great Wednesday :)

But I Need It!!

Here are the cards I was working on yesterday. These images were tons of fun to color with my Copic and PrismaColor markers! I have to say, I love the flesh tones included in the Copic sets; they are just perfect!

The patterned paper on the brown card is from Scribble Scrabble - isn't it pretty? I also cut out some of the purse images and mounted them with pop dots to make them stand out and highlight the main image.

On the blue card I used paper from All My Memories' Couture Collection. This is one of my favorite color combos - blue and brown. The "friends" sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts. Thanks for stopping by today!

DT News!

I am excited to announce that I have joined the Design Team for Creative Cuts and More, a die cut company located right here in Colorado! I chatted with the owner, Terry, today and she has lots of great ideas for building her business. What I also like is that I'll be able to incorporate stamping and other methods of embellishment with these projects! Stay tuned over the coming weeks when I post some new projects from the box of goodies I'll be receiving :)

Today I spent some time stamping with a set of stamps I bought a couple of months ago from Hanna Stamps called "But I Need It" - a shopping set! I'm not really a shopper (well, unless you count scrapping or stamping supplies), but I made some really nice cards that I'll post tomorrow and send to a couple of girlfriends. It was nice to take some time stamping just for me. Have a great evening!

Just Mucking About!

How sweet is this little guy? He's made with a set called "Punny Farm" from My Favorite Things. I stamped him twice on white paper, used one for the base image and then cut out just the face of the other image and used a pop dot to make it stand out :)

Having a quiet day here...Nattie had a friend sleep over last night and Iain took all the kids out sledding this morning. They came back red-cheeked and worn out! I think we might watch a movie this afternoon...enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Feeling thankful

Look at these beautiful irises that I received from Sue and her family this week. I have such a pretty selection of fresh flowers around the house right now thanks to friends and family who have been so supportive before and after my surgery. The get well cards and blog wishes have been an enormous help!

Another get-well gift I received was from my fantastic Circle Journal (CJ) group, the Seasoned CJ Survivors. I have been lucky enough to work on several rounds of CJ's with these amazing ladies in a drama-free environment! Those of you who have previous CJ experience know what a rarity that is :) The box had an elegantly-packaged selection of all my favorite things inside, including a book about the wisdom of women, a CD, a booklight, fluffy socks, cookies (of course, they're gone now!), a flower, and a lovely card. One of the best things is that we're organizing a get-together in Carmel, CA this June where we can finally all meet face-to-face!! What fun we're going to have!

I am feeling very thankful this weekend. How about you?

Valentine Frame Project

Here's another project I finished with the new release from The Cat's Pajamas. The set is called "Be Still, My Beating Heart" and comes with a great set of different sizes of hearts which are also compatible with the Marvy Heart Punches! I love it when stamp companies make cardmaking easier for us!

I punched the hearts with VersaFine Onyx ink on Memory Box "Flirt" paper, cut them out and attached them to the white square frame. I found the frame in a set of 3 at the Target $1 spot! Can't beat that price!!

Today's blog challenge from Two Peas is "what are your weekend scrapping plans?". I don't have any; I'm still taking things really easy and recuperating. I think Iain is going to take the kids sledding at some point over the weekend and we'll probably have a family movie night hanging out together. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Our cowboy!

How funny that after all the excitement about the new TCP releases (including Cowboys!) that Jamie was having "Western Day" at school today. Fortunately Iain and I were able to find him some cowboy accessories at Party City yesterday and he was very excited to go to school today to hear a talk from a real cowboy!

And the (second) winner of the TCP Blog Candy is....

SHIRLEY!! Shirley, send me an email at toners@wispertel.net with your mailing information and I will get these out to you asap :) Congratulations! You are going to looooove this set of stamps!

Happy Wednesday :)

How's your week going so far? I am getting a lot better every day - and sleeping better now, too, which makes a huge difference as we all know. Iain's working from home, no trips this week or next week :) We will have to take a quick trip out this afternoon to try and find a cowboy hat for Jamie - he has a real cowboy coming to visit their class tomorrow and he really wants to dress up...hopefully we'll find something cowboy-ish!

Another TCP card today, made with the new "Puppy Love" set. The patterned paper is by Memory Box. Enjoy the rest of your day!

I'm still planning on doing another drawing first thing in the morning if I don't hear from Stacy...so stay tuned!

You make my day!!

One of my blogging friends, Sabrina, sent me the "You Make My Day" blog award! What fun! It's so encouraging to have regular blog readers, and it's even better that they are my friends! So now I'm passing this on to the following bloggers who make me smile every single day....drum roll please....

Karrie
Sue
Lisa
Debbie
Alma
Maureen
Darcey
Janet
Patti
Sarah

Enjoy your award and display it proudly on your blog! Have a wonderful day!

Just Cards Vol. 8

Is on the newsstands now! I found out through a couple of friends that I have 18 cards in there - wow! My buddy Sue was kind enough to track down a copy while I was in hospital and it was waiting for me when I got home - and I also hear that my copy from Scrap & Stamp Arts is on its way :) It really is a great issue for you cardmakers out there!

Hello!!! Updating...and calling STACY!

Hi everyone - I'm back, posting today from the comfort of my couch. Thank you SO MUCH for all the well wishes, cards, flowers, and support. You all ROCK! I am so very lucky to know you all :)

The surgery went relatively well; I came home on Thursday night. Unfortunately I was accompanied by a catheter and a tank of oxygen, which was a little unexpected, but every day will get better and better. I'm seeing the urologist this afternoon and am hoping to be released from the "pee bag" (as Jamie calls it). Keep your fingers crossed! The oxygen will be staying for a few weeks until the pulmonologist can run some tests on my lung capacity, but I can handle that. For now, I'm just glad that the surgery is over and that I am home with my family. They are taking amazing care of me.

Stacy, the blog candy winner from 1/14 still hasn't emailed me, so Stacy if I don't hear from you by the end of Wednesday 1/23, I will do another drawing. I can't have these brand-new TCP stamps sitting here not being played with by a new owner! Have a great day everyone, and thanks again for checking up on me :)

On blog leave for a while...and a goodbye letter :)

Right in the middle of all the blog candy fun with TCP this week, I am taking some blog leave. I'm actually having a hysterectomy done tomorrow morning (Tuesday), and will be in the hospital for a couple of days. I'm pretty nervous but am hoping that the relief after the lengthy recovery process will be well worth it. And, in the spirit of blogging/journaling, I wrote a goodbye letter to my uterus :)

Dear Ute,

I know you've been with me for 36 years now, but it's time to say goodbye. Our relationship has had many problems in the past few years, and I need to end it. So, on Tuesday we will be heading to the hospital where you will be surgically removed while I catch some zzzzz's in the OR.

On a positive note, you were the place where my kiddos grew from little grains of rice to 7- and 9-pound babies, and for that I will be eternally grateful. They are happy, healthy kids, and I couldn't have done it without you (or my hubby!). But then...those fibroids got in there and started giving me problems - and I can't deal with another 15 or 20 years of that - so it's time for you to leave.

Thank you for everything you've done for me. You did a great job! I will think of you when Aunt Flo no longer comes to visit every month - WAHOO!!!

Toni

And the winner is....

STACY (who left her comment at 2:26pm on January 13)! Courtesy of http://www.randomnumbergenerator.com/, your comment was chosen to win the first set of blog candy for this exciting new release from The Cat's Pajamas :) Stacy, please email me at toners@wispertel.net with your information and I'll get these out to you by the end of the week. You are going to looooove these Cowboys, I'm tellin' ya!

Now, everyone else, it's OK because there will be blog candy drawings every day this week! Yep! All of us DT gals have some to give away, so head on over to these blogs - and tell them I sent you!! They have all come up with some amazing sneak peeks, so you can check them out AND enter for the candy! How cool is that?! Click on these links to find blog candy offers from Karrie, Katie, Leigh, and Ana - all week long!

Huge CONGRATULATIONS once again to STACY - and good luck to everyone with the other blog candy entries! Now get on over there! :)

Two cards in one day!

Yep, I'm on a roll! Well, not really...I just downloaded a bunch of photos from my camera! LOL! Anyway, this one is made with My Favorite Things' brand new set called "Punny Farm" - how much fun is this?? You can see all the stamps in the set right here :) I also used MFT digital paper for the grass and the sky...check it out here.

Busy Sunday :)

I hope you're having a fabulous weekend! The kids and I went shopping yesterday - Nattie had a blast spending her gift card in Kohl's, especially since there was a ton of stuff on sale! We also went to the mall and ordered the extra links for my new watch, and found another great sale at Bath & Body Works :) Then Iain came and met us at PF Chang's for dinner - YUM! In the evening we watched "Underdog" with the kids - very cute movie - and after they went to bed, Iain and I watched "3:10 to Yuma" starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. It was a fun Western with an interesting storyline - and great ending!

Today Iain and Nattie have gone skiing at Winter Park. They left bright and early this morning. Jamie and I are going to walk Tasha, do a couple of experiments from his new Chemistry Kit, and get laundry done. I also have a couple of TCP projects to finish and mail out tomorrow to Alma. Talking of TCP, today's card is another one made with the Spring line being released on SATURDAY! Yeah! And I love this patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket :)

The drawing for BLOG CANDY will be early tomorrow morning, so you can continue adding comments to Wednesday's post to be in with a chance to win!

Valentine ATC

Here's a pic of one of the Valentine ATC's I came up with for an upcoming swap. I used The Cat's Pajamas stamps, Making Memories heart brads and Memory Box paper. I am growing very fond of the ticket corner punch too!

It's exciting to see so many blog candy participants! I will be drawing the winner bright and early on Monday morning :)

What are your weekend plans? Nattie and I are going shopping tomorrow: she has a couple of gift cards that she wants to use, and I need to have a couple of links added on to the gorgeous watch that Iain gave me for Christmas!

It's snowing this morning - hopefully not too much, since Iain's on his way back from San Francisco today :) Have a great Friday!

It's that time again - BLOG CANDY!

Alma from The Cat's Pajamas has donated some Blog Candy for us DT members to offer in drawings next week! Woo hoo! And first up - is me! Here's what you have to do:

Just leave a comment by midnight on Sunday night, telling me what themes of stamps you'd like to see more of in the stamping world - flowers, sentiments, alphabets, whatever you think! I will draw the name of the lucky winner on Monday morning...and that person will receive a set of the brand new Cowboy stamps! Yee haw! Good luck everyone!

New Release Par-Tay! :)

My Favorite Things is having their New Release Party tonight over at Splitcoast Stampers! The fun starts at 9pm EST. Click here to get all the details from Kim's blog! I used one of the new sets to decorate this magnetic tag...

Love Machine!

I love this little guy :) He was released in 2007 as part of The Cat's Pajamas' Spring line and will be featured in a new collection of acrylic stamps being released in just 10 days! Isn't he adorable?

How is your day going? I got lots of stamping done yesterday, and today my mission is to get started on a Circle Journal for our Seasoned CJ Survivors group. I need to mail it out to Sue by the weekend :) Iain is in San Francisco for a couple of days, so I'll get some nighttime creating done too!

The kids are back at school...Jamie is thrilled to be back with his kindergarten class but Nattie would have much preferred to stay home a little longer! Ah, the joys of 5th grade...

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Janet! Here we go...

1. Name your two favorite scrapbooking topics: family and travel.
2. What are the two best places you've been to? That's a tough one, but if I have to narrow it down, I'd say Lake Wolfgang, Austria and London, England.
3. Name two things you do every day: check my e-mail and drink tea!
4. Tell us two things that everyone pretty much knows about you: I have a Scottish accent; I have 2 kiddos.
5. Two places you wish to visit: Alaska and Norway.
6. Two things you may not know about me are: I was born in England (we moved to Scotland when I was 5); I have a younger sister.
7. Two nicknames you've had at some time in your life: Toners and Bones (don't ask!).
8. Name two of your favorite drinks: Earl Grey tea and Mai Tais (not together!).
9. What are two interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you've had in your life? Grocery store clerk (only interesting because it was my very first job!) and office temp (yeah...the filing...the filing...and more filing....).
10. The question I'm adding is...what are two things you would like to learn? Baking and knitting (two things I have tried so many times and continue to stink at them! LOL!).

Notice a theme? All the questions have "two" in them. Answer the questions, add one of your own (this tag started with 4 questions), and tag two people. Simple enough? I'm tagging Linda and Karrie. Enjoy!

Back later with a card :)

Did someone say CANDY???

Well, there are actually 2 types of candy to talk about here...the first is covered candy wrappers stamped with - yep - you guessed it - Spring stamps from The Cat's Pajamas! It turns out that the Avery labels fit perfectly on Hershey Nuggets! The ink used here is Stazon Red and Black, and ColorBox Aqua. Flowers are of course by Prima :)

And the other type of candy? BLOG CANDY! Yahoo! I'll have a set of the brand spankin' new Cowboys set to give away on Monday the 14th....so stay tuned later this week for the details on how to enter! Have a great evening!

Your teepee or mine?

I love this phrase! What fun for a Valentine's Day card, huh? Hee hee!! One of the things I like about the new Cowboys set from TCP is that there are a whole bunch of creative opportunities for guy cards! Yeah! Oh - and the patterned paper for this card and the previous card is the "Gretel" Collection by Cosmo Cricket.

I got my other Spring Flowers ATC finished this evening, so now I just have to work on 2 Valentine's ATC's. It'll be fun to break out the pink paper and create!!!

The kids and I went to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks" this afternoon. It hadn't got the best of movie reviews, but it was a little better than I had expected. The kids loved it :) One movie that we all enjoyed over the holiday season was "The Water Horse" - set in wartime Scotland and all about a version of the story of the Loch Ness Monster. An awesome family movie (although Iain and I thought some of the Scottish accents were terrible!) with beautiful scenery - it was filmed in New Zealand and Scotland.

Happy Trails!

Here you go...another card made for the sneak peek of the new stamps from The Cat's Pajamas! And the release date is...drum roll please...January 19th! Yep - mark your calendars - that's the day you'll be able to get these fantastic new stamps ordered from Alma :) And don't forget to check out the other DT members' blogs for more sneak peeks - you can see them linked over at the right-hand side of my blog!

I'll be back tomorrow with another card! Have a great evening :)

Starting to think Spring...

so I signed up for a "Spring Flowers" ATC swap. Here's my finished card.

I'm not doing too much today...at a doctor's appointment on Thursday I found out I have a sinus infection. Not exactly what I wanted to hear when I'm scheduled for surgery in just over a week, so I'm hoping these antibiotics kick the sinus infection's butt :)

Enjoy your Sunday, and stop back again tomorrow for another TCP sneak peek!!

Howdy!

Here's another little cutie from the Spring line! Alma has really outdone herself this time - what a fun set to play with! And I know a lot of us are often thinking there is a distinct lack of boy-ish stamps out there. I like the effect of the stitching on this one...

How's 2008 going for you so far? Unfortunately Jamie seems to have some kind of stomach bug, so today will be another jammie day for him. The kids don't go back to school till next Tuesday, which they are both glad about. And I think there's more snow on the way this weekend! Happy Friday!

It's that time again....

time for a sneak peek of a card made with The Cat's Pajamas' latest line of stamps! How cute are these images? A release date? Well, all we know so far is that it will be some time this month, but I will be sure to let you know as soon as I do!

I had big plans yesterday to get the tree and decorations taken down but it didn't quite turn out that way. I did, however, get almost all the laundry done from our trip, which is a feat in itself! LOL! Perhaps today for the tree....

Have a fantastic Thursday! And come back tomorrow for another peek!

We're baaack :)

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. Warm wishes to all of you for a terrific 2008! We got back yesterday from our trip to Palm Springs - we had tons of fun! The hotel was gorgeous and the high temps were in the low 60s, which was perfect for the little day trips we had. Jamie and I went to Legoland for a day and Iain and Nattie headed to Six Flags in L.A. - rollercoasters are one of their favorite things! LOL! Jamie loved Legoland and he really enjoyed Miniland - there was a new exhibit of Las Vegas :)

Thank you for all the happy birthday wishes! That morning Iain played golf and the kids and I ate lunch by the pool, then in the afternoon I went to the spa for a few hours. Got a facial....aaaah! Bliss! Then that evening Iain and I went out for a meal together - it was great!

We also visited the Palm Springs Aerial Tram which took us up to 8,500 ft at the Mount San Jacinto State Park. It reminded us of Conifer with all the pine trees and snow-covered ground! Here's a mix of photos from the trip.

Oh - and stop by tomorrow for a sneak peek of a card made with the brand new Spring line coming from The Cat's Pajamas! You will LOVE this set!