In a Wintery Sort of Mood...

We had a few mild days here in NY, and I was really enjoying them...well, today, we're back to more "seasonal" (that's a nice word for COLD) temps, lol.

Anyway - fitting enough, Pink Cat Studio's digital release is today, and Melissa came up with some fabby images for release today.  I chose this really cute snowman.  I like that he's tall and slender...very different for a snowman...I chose to flip him horizontally for my card today.

I wanted the card to be somewhat simple, yet have dimension.  I started out making a few 'snow banks' just using my craft knife, and making some wavy cuts on some scrap pieces of white CS.  Then I adhered the 'back' bank with dimensionals, and added more to each layer, giving this card some real 'pop' ;).  Finished it all off with some stardust stickles, and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink, and called it a day.


Here's a peek at the rest of what is new in the store today...you MUST take a peek at those kitties -- I love the one curled up in the box of paper, lol.

Go see what the rest of the girls have done with these great new images today!!

• Alicia Weiman
• Emily Leiphart
• Inge Groot
• Kerry Donovan-Casey
• Kristen Catalano
• Mackenzie Bruckler
• Maria Bell
• Suzanne Dean
• Tori Hemmingway
• Vicki Garrett 

   

  This is my SECOND post for today, please scroll down to check out a SPECIAL Just Us Girls challenge for charity!

   

  Have a GREAT day, and thanks for stopping by!!

A Special JUGS Challenge

Good morning friends --

I have 2, count them, 1, 2 posts today!  My first post is to let you all know about a special challenge for charity over at the Just Us Girls Blog.  Lisa Kind has written a beautiful post about this challenge.  I hope that YOU ALL will participate, and get a chance to win a $15 GC just for playing along...not too shabby, eh?

Katie Cotton, of Paper Makeup Stamps made a FABULOUS boy fairy making a snow angel image, and has named it Henry.  All proceeds from the sale of this image will go to benefit the Anderson family.

Here's what I made with my Henry image:

Be sure to hop around to the rest of the JUGS Design Team's blogs to see what they made, and to Katie's blog too, she's our guest designer today!

Thanks Katie, for making this terrific image, and for being so generous to the Anderson family!! 

Happy 234th Birthday!!

Yes, that's right.  I have not lost my mind...alright, well that's debatable, but there is a 234th birthday to be celebrated today.  The United State Marine Corps is 234 today!

Very timely, as I have a special post to share today.  This Sunday, a friend of mine heads to Parris Island, reporting for boot camp.  WOW.  Seems like just yesterday when she told me that she was enlisting.  I'm SO proud of her, as I know this wasn't an easy decision to make, and I know she'll be great.  She's already displayed determination and drive, now she has to just keep going.

I had to say goodbye last night - and amazingly enough, I did so without tears...sort of ;).  I just can't begin to explain how great I think she is for doing what she's doing.  A great example to my daughters and my nieces especially, that we girls can kick some *insert 3 letter explicative here*

I promise this post isn't all blah blah blah...

Kirsten is in our fife and drum corps, and we had a big send off for her at practice last night...I, of course, volunteered to make her a card for the occasion... check her out:

Cute, right??  I know Kirsten WON'T be wearing pink camo, but hey, I'm exercising my artistic freedom ;).  Here's a close up:

I merged two images from the Greeting Farm to come up with my girl soldier.  I took my Wild West Anya's braids, and "attached them" to the Hero Ian image...I think it came out pretty good, if I do say do myself!  The pink camouflage was drawn/colored by hand.  You can see a faint background on the base using phrases from the Hero Ian set (which is unfortunately no longer available :( ).

So Kirsten - here's to you...head off to boot camp, and kick some *insert 3 letter explicative here* - lol  ;).  I'll be missing you - and will look forward to seeing you after graduation in February!!!  Love ya girl, YOU CAN DO IT!!!

And don't forget my friends -- Veteran's day is tomorrow -- so...

THANK YOU to our Veterans.  Thanks for your service for our country, it wouldn't be what it is today without you...

I can ever say it enough -- thank you to ALL of our military forces for the jobs you do...and I'll leave you with one last project that I made for one of the Marines' newest recruits:

OORAH!

I know Halloween is over, but...

I never got to share these with you.  Have you been to Waltzingmouse Stamps yet??  If not, you MUST go.  Claire is very creative, and has lots of great designs...and really, who doesn't love to get Royal Mail??? LOL.  These simple and easy projects use her Halloween Party set, it's just darling.  You can make exquisitely elegant, or simple, yet fun designs with this set...take a look:

These are the treats that I made for my older daughter's classmates at school.  SUPER simple, and cute.  I cut my CS like I would for an A2 card, and punched a 'handle' in it.  Then I put my teeny bag of pretzels in there, and secured them in there with some scor-tape. 


They went together really fast, and I don't feel bad that the kids were going to rip the pretzels out of there and toss away the CS.  LOL.

Then I made these little tubes of M&M's for the party mom helpers and the aide at DD's school.

Thanks for stopping by today -- hope you have a great one!!

Thinking of Henry...and a JUGS challenge!

It's the weekend!  WHEW!

I can hardly believe that it was a week ago already that we hosted the big party for the kids, which seemed to be a great success, by the way.  I'm just thankful it is finished!  Here is a pic of my kiddos in their costumes

we forgot to put supergirl's boot covers on though -- oops.    Anyway -- just about a week ago, a family's life changed, forever.  I look at my girls and think I could never live without them, and someone I 'know' from online in the stamping community now has to face that reality.

I've been thinking about Sarah Anderson, and her family CONTINUOUSLY this week.  I've made a card for the family using the JUGS challenge sketch for this week, and thought I'd share it with you.

Here's this week's sketch, provided by the very talented Maria Levine

For the card, I wanted to use the digital image that Melissa from Pink Cat Studio designed to help raise money for trees to be planted in Henry's name.  More details on the fundraiser in this post.

The card size is 8.5"x5.5" as I REALLY wanted to use those cool chipboard letters, so I modified the card size to make it work ;).  The patterned paper is from Imaginsce...I love it - don't you, perfect for this card too - I think.

Be sure to check out all of the other DT members' blogs, as I'm SURE they've rocked this challenge from Maria.  I hope YOU get to play along too, and link your post to the JUGS challenge blog, also, if uploading to an online gallery, use the keyword JUGS6.

• Dana Gustafson
• Kristin Bueter
• Lisa Kind
• Maria Levine
• Mona Pendleton
• Pam Imholz
  

Don't forget -- if you want to get your hands on that adorable image, for a GREAT cause, be sure to head over to the Pink Cat Digi Store, and pick yours up today!

Next Saturday is MY turn to give you all a challenge...hope you'll come and play!!

Thanks for stopping by, have a GREAT weekend!

Trees and Cupcakes...

Strange title, I know.  Doesn't sound like the two would go together, but they are related...

This week has been a very sad one, as DT member Sarah Anderson’s 3 year old son Henry passed away. Little Henry was unable to overcome a virus that made him ill last week.

 

Lorie Ames has organized a way to donate for a memorial for Henry. Henry loved his local zoo and visited it almost every day in the summer. As a memorial, trees will be planted there in his honor. Melissa at Pink Cat Studio has created a digital stamp to help raise funds for a tree for Henry. All proceeds from the sale of the digi stamp, minus Paypal costs, will go towards the tree. If you would like to donate towards the tree, please visit this webpage to purchase the digi stamp: Henry Anderson Memorial Fund Digi Stamp

Another way to donate to the memorial is to print out this form and mail in your donation directly: City of Oshkosh Memorial Tree Program.

Please write on the form that the donation is for Sarah Anderson’s son Henry. Once all of the money is collected, a tree and location will be selected. If you have questions about the form please contact Lorie Ames. Lorie will be in contact with Sarah along this memorial journey to ensure that her wishes are followed.
To contact Lorie, please visit her blog at http://www.live-love-laugh-create.blogspot.com/

 

If you don’t know Sarah and would like to learn more about her, please visit her blog: Sarah Anderson

I appreciate you all taking the time to read, and donate, $3.50 isn't a whole lot of money, you get a SUPER cute image, and help honor the life of a sweet little boy...go donate!

Now -- the cupcakes...well, as you all know, cupcakes are totally the rage these days...I made some for my daughter's party on Saturday...

of course, these paled in comparison to the AWESOME cake my friend Sue made for the girls -- have a look:

Isn't that GREAT?!?!  I totally loved it -- if you want to order one, let me know ;).

But, back to the cupcakes...Melissa came up with some great images for the digi release this week, and my favorite has to be this one of the cute little birdies with a big cupcake.  MMMMMMmmmmmm....

Some little details here - crystal effects on the sprinkles and cherry, and some stickles along the layers of icing. 

Here's the rest of what's being released today, you don't want to miss out...aren't those polar bears just TOO sweet??  And did you notice?  Melissa has decided to release the 'Itty Bitty Christmas' rubber set, as DIGI images for those who love them!  YEAH!

 

Head on over to the rest of the DT's blogs to see what they've made - it's no doubt, just FABULOUS.

• Alicia Weiman
• Emily Leiphart
• Inge Groot
• Kerry Donovan-Casey
• Kristen Catalano
• Mackenzie Bruckler
• Maria Bell
• Suzanne Dean
• Tori Hemmingway
• Vicki Garrett

Thanks for stopping by today!

Awful, Sad News...

Good Morning Friends,

I sit here with a heavy heart this morning.  I was over on SCS, and though I don't spend a ton of time there -- I saw a thread title in Current Events.  "SCS Member Sairabee Loses her Henry".  The worst fear any parents could have has come true for Sarah.  My heart breaks...I don't even know what to say.

I don't know her all that well -- but have seen her around SCS, and she's even popped in here on my blog too, but as a Mom - ugh...I just have this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and I am so sad.  Someone on SCS is accepting cards to send to Sarah - so if you are interested in sending Sarah and Darrin some thoughtful words, you can mail the cards to this address:

Anderson Family
c/o 1130 Oak Street
Martinez, CA 94553

Please keep Sarah, Darrin, and Henry in your thoughts...I know they really need them right now.