Think happy thoughts please...

I definitely hugged my family a little tighter this weekend.  I feel so horrible about what's happening in Japan right now and so helpless.  As some of you know, my husbands family is Japanese.  With the exception of his Mom, all of his releatives currently live in Japan.  On the day of the earthquake, I was able to get in touch with his cousins and find out that they were okay.  Later that evening, we got word that his Uncle and his family were all doing okay.  We've been unable to contact his other cousin.  He's a monk in Soma, Fukushima and lives there with his wife at a temple near the shore.  They're an elderly couple and were SO wonderful to us when we went to visit them a short nine months ago.  Their home and temple are very close to the epicenter of the quake and right where the tsunami hit hardest.  They are currently missing and their whole town is under water. It would be a miracle if they are still alive, but miracles can happen, right?  My husband spent the whole weekend trying to get information about the current condition of the town and posting a missing person report for Ryoin and Tei Watanabe.

If you're trying to get a hold of anyone in Japan, you can search for them or file a missing person report right here.  (I'm sure that there are many other sites also, but this is what we've been using)

Christmas Stampin All Year Long

TGIF!
Friday is finally here and that means a new sponsor and a new challenge over at CSAYL! Our sponsor today is...

And our challenge this week is to be inspired by "the little brown dress".

Here's what I came up with using a Deedee's Digi called "Lovin from my Oven".

Obviously I was inspired by the colors and the brown edges on the shrug.

I paper pieced her apron and then did some faux stitching around the bottom panel.

If you'd like to play along with us this week, be sure to hop on over to the CSAYL blog for all of the details and prize info! Have a super weekend!

Pink Cat Digital Release Day!

Top o' the mornin' to ya!
Check out what's new from Pink Cat Studio! I decided to play with the leprechaun first...

and made a four leaf clover seed packet. I used a small translucent bag, filled it with seeds and decorated my little heart out.

I found this cute poem online, typed it up and printed it on to kraft cardstock.

Check out these cute St. Patty's Day fairies.

And here's Itty Bitty Betty.

I decided to leave this one blank, so I can add a rub on sentiment when I need it.

Check out the cute teddy bear all ready for the festivities.

If you hop on over the PCS store, you'll get a super cute FREEBIE with any purchase today only! Thanks for stopping by!

New Stamps and a Sketch Challenge

InStyle Stamps has new rubber in the house!

The Easter tree was my fave of the bunch so that's what I played with, ehem.....I mean worked with first. I used the March InStyle sketch to get started. And here's what I came up with...
I used Kraft cardstock for the base and patterns by Memory Box.
I used part of a 3" circle for the main panel, added some die cut grass and layered on the tree.

To finish it off, I added a rub-on sentiment, some half-back pearls and a bit of paper piercing.

Here's a close up of the image before I cut it out. I used a glitter pen to accent the eggs and color the white flowers.

If you're inspired by the sketch, hop on over to the InStyle blog and play along with us! Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Tubes-R-Us

Ughhh....these pictures came out terrible, but I was so excited to get a scrapbook page done that I decided to share them anyway. One of our favorite "snow day" spots is a place called Tubes-R-Us in Cisco Grove, California. They have three manicured bunny slopes, dozens of inner tubes and an electric walkway up to the top. What more could a family want?!

I picked up a kit at the local scrapbook store that contained all kinds of matchy-matchy goodness by My Mind's Eye. I just love the bright colors and the fun patterns. After playing with the layout a bit, I was able to come up with a way to fit TWELVE photos on my double-page layout - yay!
The kit came with alphabet Thickers that I used for my title. I replaced the "o" with a die cut and added a jewel to the center. Then I printed up a tiny bit of journaling onto a 1" x 12" strip and attached that vertically.

These cuties are die cuts also. Of course, I added a jewel to their jackets after I popped them up on dimensionals.

This playing card embellishment was part of my stash, but it matched the papers so perfectly that I had to use it.

If feels SO good to get my first layout of 2011 finished!

Now if I can just get caught up on 2010...

New rubbah from the Pink Kitty!

If you're looking for info on the 1st CSAYL challenge of the year, click here.

Some popular digital images from Pink Cat Studio have been released in rubber TODAY!Here are a couple samples I made when these were released as digis. This is a brand new image just for the rubber release - so cute!

I added red glitter to the wings and then colored the body with a red glaze pen.

If you'd like to purchase any of these cute rubber goodies, click here, for a list of PCS retailers located worldwide.

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long!

So, I'm running the show over at CSAYL this year, and you all know how much I love to make things SPAR-KA-LAY! Our first challenge begins today and I just couldn't resist pairing up my two favorite things:
Pink Cat Studio and Bling!

Definitely a combination that you just can't go wrong with.

The first challenge of the year is.....
"HOW MUCH BLING CAN YOU BRING?"

Here's what I came up with using a PCS image called Lily Candy Elf.

Oh yeah baby!
Just look at all that sparkly goodness!
I covered the large lollipop with green sugar coating, embellished the image with a glitter pen, added a glitter flower behind the purple snowflake AND added 10 jewels.

Now it's your turn!
How much bling can you bring?
Hop on over the CSAYL blog for all the juicy details, prize info and more inspiration from my fabulous design team.

Pink Cat Digital Release Day

Today is my favorite day of the week, because I get to share all of the fun things I've been working on for the new PCS release!
Check out these little cuties...I had way too much fun with these images!
Hey....who's that in my chimney?
Oh....it's this little guy! I used the chimney from a PCS image called "Santa Kitty", and then scalloped some patterned paper to look like a rooftop. Melissa liked that idea so much, that she drew up a kitty-free chimney as one of her freebies today!

Check out this foxy little dude...

Adorable, no?

And here he is just hanging out.

I used a tree stump from another PCS image called "Christmas Stump". I cut off the ornaments and colored over the candy canes. Then I added one adorable strategically placed fox and a little strategically placed grass. Voila!
Oh, and guess what? Melissa liked that idea too, so she made an owl-free stump just for all of you! Yay for freebies!

As soon as I saw this raccoon, I new exactly what sentiment I wanted to make for him.

Mr & Mrs Hedgehog just welcomed a new addition!

The great thing about digital images is you can flip em', shrink em' and do just about anything you can think of. Fun, fun, fun.

I used the same idea for the deer images to make a Mother's Day card.

I think this is my favorite card this week. The soft color combo is something different for me, but I love how it turned out.

I hope you like my projects this week because I had fun making them! Be sure to hop on over to the PCS store today, because with any purchase, you'll get those fun freebies to play with!

I hope to see you back here tomorrow for the first CSAYL challenge of the year!! And I just know you're going to love our 1st sponsor!!