when good mascara goes bad

Sammy turns two this Saturday. Apparently she thinks she's old enough to start wearing my makeup. I'll now be hiding my makeup until she's sixteen (or at least try and remember to close the bathroom door.)

you're my style

I went on a little retreat with my girlfriends this past weekend to Leavenworth. We rented a cabin and sat around doing scrapbooking and making cards and even digital scrapbooking (I have a few friends in my group who are really getting into digital and one even brought her whole CPU!) And then of course we also spent a lot of time laughing, eating chocolate, and hanging out in Leavenworth. It was a sunny weekend...perfect!

I realized something while making cards this weekend...I design better cards when I don't have kids crawling all over me while I work! Imagine that! The card above is one I made at our retreat and I just LOOOOOVVVVEEE it...it's my style. You know what else happened with this card that I did not intend at all? See how my spiral hardware ring matches the spirals on the chair image?! Isn't that cool? ha ha! It wasn't planned...I was just trying to use my SU hardware. I always use our retreats as a way to use up supplies that have been sitting around forever. ;)

Card supplies:
In the Parlor stamp set
Polka-dot paper from Perfect Polkas
Bazzill polka-dot paper
SU Hardware
Square and scallop square Nestabilities dies
Cream and brown Copic markers
Brown, white and cream cardstock

popsicles are cool

Today I get to show my popsicle card! Yay! What I love most about this popsicle card is the popsicle pattern paper from our Sweets and Treats digital paper pack...it's it adorable? Meridith designed this paper pack and I was so in love when I saw it...I love the colors too. It's yummy.

Here's some detail...I used a clear blender marker on my popsicle for a melty-looking indentation between the two sides of the popsicle.



Doesn't this make you wish for hot summer days in the backyard with a popsicle? MMMM.

Quiz: How many times in this blog post have I said the word popsicle? I've counted seven so far. I just love the word popsicle! (oh, make that eight times now!)

So guess what else is cool? Gumball machines! This is another image that I just LOVE! Once again I used the polka-dot paper from the Sweets and Treats digital paper pack.



Detail...



I might love my gumball machine card even more...it's hard to say. This set makes me feel like a kid again!

I hope you've enjoyed our Sneak Peeks! The new release stamps and digital papers will be officially available on Saturday, April 25th. **We're also having a promotion....every order that is placed on Saturday will get a FREE pack of our French Floral paper!** No coupon code is needed...it will come automatically.

Have a SWEET weekend! :)

everyday sayings...finally!

We have a new sentiments set! I'm so happy we are finally releasing Everyday Sayings because I've been reaching for that set all month and unable to post anything with it, ha ha! If you scroll down to my Tuesday post though you'll notice that I caved and went ahead and posted a sample with a sentiment from that set anyways...I couldn't wait any longer. ;) This set has all the perfect sentiments in just the right size and is easily matched with just about any card you make, such as this Basic Grey Offbeat card I made. I loved the design of this card but found myself needing a birthday card for my aunt...so I added my sentiments and it's now a birthday card! Perfect!

Tomorrow I am posting my FAVORITE sneak peek card here so stay tuned...

in love ... with a nest

When I first saw this nest image from my dear friend Katie, who is the artist for our Katie Jane line, I was IN LOVE! We had talked about her doing a bird set for quite some time, and I threw in the comment that I'd love to see a nest...something I hadn't seen included in a naturalistic bird set that often. This is my most favorite image in this whole set! The entire Bless This Nest set is amazing....Katie is one amazing illustrator.

Here's some detail on the nest...




Something else I love about this set is the type font we used for the sentiments. This set reminds me of an antique bird book or catalog. Something you would have seen 100 years ago. You know...like this...



More sneak peeks tomorrow!

weekly sketch --and something else???

It was my turn to host the LAD sketch challenge this week and I decided to go with my trusty 1/3, 2/3 card recipe. That recipe has never failed me. Though I did put my sentiment in a different place than the sketch...if you read my blog then you already know I like to break rules. (Even rules I create for myself! ha!) I used the pear from Tutti Fruity with some cool Basic Grey Offbeat cardstock stickers...a match made in heaven I might add. Know what else is cool? Our Tutti Fruity stamp set just got picked by an editor at Paper Crafts Magazine who is going to be featuring it on a craft segment on T.V.! Cool huh? It will be this June...we'll post details and a link to the internet video so ya' all can watch.

What's that you say? You see a stamp image on this card that you aren't sure you've seen before? Are you sure? Hmmmm. Well I guess you better tune in to our Spring release sneak peeks that start tomorrow on our company blog and find out. ;)

fun stuff!

Lots of fun stuff happening this week...

We are one week away from our Spring Stamp Release! Yay! And I just posted a few sneak peeks and a CONTEST on our company blog...so make sure to go check it out here...

Our sneak peeks are starting next Wednesday and I'm working on all my samples! So I'll have lots of stuff to show you soon. Good stuff.

I saw this contest on Cosmo Cricket that I thought was awesome and I had to point out...it's a "vote for your favorite LSS (Local Scrapbooking Store) contest! Not only do you win free paper (and I LOVE Cosmo Cricket paper) but your favorite LSS does too...so it's a win-win for everyone! Go vote. I'll be voting for my local store, Hip 2B Square!

what's up?

Wow it's been awhile since I've blogged...it's because I'm super busy! I've been busy getting our Spring Release ready (April 25th) including a *new product* we are releasing...it's going to be fun! And then it was Spring Break. My son started Kindergarten this year so this was the first year we ever had to plan our family vacations around a school schedule. We've been promising Ethan we'd take him to Disneyland for some time now...so that's where we went! It was a lovely trip...a bit crowded but my kids don't go on the "big" rides (with the big lines) anyways--they were more interested in the shows and parades and kiddie rides. Though the new Toy Story Mania at California Adventure is pretty darn cool for kiddies and grown-ups, I have to say! We rode that one several times.

Of all the things to forget to bring on a family vacation --I forget my CAMERA. Yeah. UGH! I have an entire scrapbook dedicated to family vacations too! Doh! Thank goodness for Disney's Photo Pass program (which is where I grabbed the picts below.) Oh and also the nice lady from New York who was in line with me at Pixie Hollow and took pictures of my daughter and the fairies and emailed them to me. :) Oh, and Phillip's iPhone.







The two picts below are from Huntington Beach (from the iPhone)...it was LOVELY going to the beach! I remember sitting on the warm sand thinking "tomorrow I'll be back in the rain in Seattle thinking about the fact that I was on the beach in the sun the day before." Yep, that's pretty much what happened. Sigh. It's okay...Summer days in Seattle are better than any day in southern CA IMHO. I just have to wait two more months for summer to get here! It was pretty awesome watching the surfer-dudes catching waves from the pier. My kids loved that.

wonderful mother card

This was one of the cards I had my class make last Saturday...I thought a Mother's Day card would be great since it's really only about a month+ away. It's simple...just some patterned paper, our Wonderful Mother stamp single, some pretty ribbon and some buttons. I love simplicity! It's also one of our April Projects of the Month.

I'm so glad it's April. Some great things about April are the Tulip Festival here in Skagit Washington, Easter, Spring Break, my annual scrapbooking retreat with my friends, and warmer weather...still rainy--- but warmer rain. ;) I look forward to longer daytime hours and opportunities to go walking and riding bikes with my kids. Yay for April!