A Furry Favor

If you've read my blog regularly for very long, you probably know that I am a volunteer with my local humane society. I am a foster parent, and my dog, Dixie, is a foster dog whom I adopted. I've entered Dixie in Hallmark's A Dog Named Christmas cutest dog contest.

Part of the prize packages is a contribution to your favorite shelter. I would LOVE to win some money for my local shelter, Central Missouri Humane Society (CMHS). If you could vote for Dixie, we sure would appreciate it! :)

You can vote for Dixie here: Cutest Dog contest

Dixie say "Thanks!".

Christmas Sale

And you thought all the Christmas deals were over with the end of Black Friday! ;-) Sally-Ann is offering 20 percent off all Christmas digi stamps in her shop. Go on over and check it out! :)

SSW's Little Helper

Joni of Inktegrity is sponsoring this week's sketch:


For my card, I used "Little Helper" along with the Christmas pie image:


I used an old version of Paint Shop Pro to resize the pie and then cut & paste it as a transparent image onto the mouse's platter. Next, I used the Erase tool to remove the line where the platter and pie overlapped. Then I was able to print out my image with the pie already on the platter. There are lots of tutorials online on how to cut & paste images, which vary depending on the graphic editing software you use.

Be sure to stop on by the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and check out the other DT members cards, as well as visiting Joni's shop to see all of her images, including some newly released on 11/15.

If it's not one thing...

.... it's something else, to quote Roseanne Rosannadanna, Gilda Radner's character on Saturday Night Live.

Last week, my dog Dixie was very sick. I'll spare you the details, but I noticed something wasn't right Monday morning and attributed it to her most recent raid on the kitchen garbage can. It got worse later in the day and we had a rough night, so the next day we were off to my vet, who diagnosed her with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, gave her some shots & some meds to take home. The medications kicked in by that evening, but she was a very listless puppy & gave me quite a scare.

Now we are in the midst of battling a different kind of "bug" - a computer virus. Our computer's been acting weird lately, but last week I started getting this annoying pop up that would NOT go away. DH has been working on cleaning it up, so computer access has been intermittent the past few days. Something is still not right, so if I go silent for more than a few days, you know what's up!

On a lighter note, I was at Target last week when I spotted this clear acrylic stamp:


It was only $1.49! That even fits in with my (almost non-existent) stamping budget! How can any redblooded stamper pass up this much swirly prettiness for $1.49? I, dear reader, could not! (Of course, I'm not known for my iron will when it comes to papercrafting purchases, lol.)

While cleaning my room, I came across 4 notepads that just needed to be decorated. This one seemed just perfect for my new stamp:

I'm not usually a huge fan of just black & white, but I think this works.

This is possibly my favorite one that I finished, because I love this image and I love PINK!


I used the adorable Marissa from DigiStamp Boutique. I just love her! She's so adorable. She makes a pretty good Arielle wannabe if you give her red hair, too. :)

That's it for me! (I was chatty tonight -- must be computer withdrawal, lol!) Be sure to check back Wednesday for the newest Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge!

Fab Friday!

It's Friday, so it's time for another Fab Friday feature.

If you're a Michaels customer, you probably know they are having a weekly crafting contest. I checked out the weekly winners here: Homemade Holidays. There are some really awesome entries! Definitely check out the paper flower wreath. If you visit the winner's blog she has a link to her tutorial on how to make the paper flowers.

Check it out and have a Fab Friday!

More Birthday Wishes

Here are a few more birthday cards. I used the same Imaginisce paper pad that I used on these b'day cards. This first card features that adorable George from DigiStamp Boutique once again.


And here's everyone's favorite feline, Fluffles. I just love that saying - Life's uncertain... eat dessert first. Certainly my motto in life! :)

Meet George!

Here's this week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge sketch:


And here's my card, which uses one of the adorable George images from DigiStamp Boutique. (He's part of the October release.) Sally-Ann is graciously sponsoring our challenge this week, so be sure to check out George as well as all the other fabulous images in her shop.


Hop on over to the blog and play along with us this week!

Plum Crazy

No, that's not a statement on my mental condition (although it could be, at times, lol!). Moxie Fab World is having a "Plum Crazy" challenge. Purple is one of my favorite colors so I knew that I had a lot of plum "ingredients" for the challenge. In fact, one of the cardstocks I used on my card is PTI's Plum Pudding. And I knew this delicate image of violets from TAC was the perfect image with all the purples in my card.


I've had these brads for *forever* - I bought them to use on a scrapbook layout, I think, but never used them. I thought they went perfectly with the papers & floral image and was unpleasantly surprised to find some rust on the prongs! Consider that my lecture for the day on the perils of hoarding/neglecting your supplies. ;-)

You have until midnight (Eastern, I think) tomorrow (Monday) to submit something to the Plum Crazy challenge at Moxie Fab World. Join me in playing! :)

Supplies: Flower Collage Trio (TAC), Ivory & Plum Pudding cardstocks (PTI), Grape Damask dp (Deja Views), all other cardstock - Mulberry Meadow (retired TAC), ribbon (Hobby Lobby), brads (Making Memories), Prismacolor pencils & OMS.

TGIF!

This Friday seemed to take a long time to finally get here! It's time for this week's Fab Friday finds. This week the focus is on FREEBIES. (Because free is always fab, right?)

The uber talented Nina B has a whole page of freebies on her site. (Nina designs for Gina K, among others.) The desk calendars would make great little gifts.

Sally-Ann, owner of DigiStamp Boutique always has a monthly free digital stamp, but I particularly love this month's freebie, "Eek! Caught a Bug?". Check out this awesome project on the DigiStamp Boutique blog, featuring this freebie.

Have fun checking these out!

Embellish Challenge

I found the coolest blog today - Embellish Magazine. They are having a fun color challenge (coral, green & brown) with a twist - you must also use an owl image in your project. I used TAC's fun "Hip to Be Square" set to make this card:

Fun! I can't wait to see what the next challenge will be!

Sweet Squirrely Girl

Here's this week's sketch:


Be sure to visit the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog to check out this week's beautiful DT samples!

Here's my card:

I used some of my favorite things on this card - lots of pink, TAC's Squirrely girl, Mimi cardstock and dark brown ribbon. (It looks black, but it's really a very dark brown, just like the bottom card layer. I love that shade of brown!)

Supplies: (all TAC): Squirelly Girl, Mimi printed & solid cardstock, Kraft cardstock, Bazzill Monochromatic cardstock in Browns and Red-Violets, Prismacolor pencils, pink Scrapper's Floss. Non-TAC supplies: ribbon (HL or Mikes), American Crafts buttons, odorless mineral spirits.

Sneak Peak....

Don't forget - Sweet Sketch Wednesday's latest sketch is coming soon! Check back tomorrow to see the latest sketch. Here's a sneak peak of my card:

See you Wednesday!

Restocking the shelves...

Several of Jessica's friends had birthdays in October and I found myself very low on birthday cards! I like to have cards on hand for the girls to pick from, so I've been making birthday cards today. Here are two that I have finished. The first card uses the adorable Ruby from DigiStamp Boutique.


This second card uses a Whipper Snapper image that my friend Diana stamped for me:

For both cards, I used a really cute Imaginisce glitter paper stack that I bought from Cindy at StampingScrapping.com. It comes with several different doublesided cardstock weight printed papers as well as chipboard pieces with coordinating stickers. (I'm not sure if Cindy still has it in the store, but feel free to check it out. She always has some cool stuff in stock!)

Fab Friday... a little late

Sorry I'm late! I haven't been feeling well the past two days and have been hitting the sack pretty early.

There is a silver lining, though - I found this great papercrafting event to share with you! They're having a Holiday Sampler Event today over at Scrapbook News & Review. There are a lot of fun projects to check out, including some great mini-tutorials. I can't wait to try making the Hot Cocoa Gift Pack (look under Classes & Inspiration).

You Warm My Heart

Here's another Christmas card featuring stamps from The Angel Company's Fall supplement. This cute little snowman is from "Merriest Wishes" - one of my favorite sets. (I just love snowmen!)
Supplies (all from TAC): Merriest Wishes stamp set, Kraft, Premium White and Brown cardstocks, Catelynn dp, Bazzill Monochromatic cardstock in Red-Violets and Greens, Palette Noir ink, Prismacolor pencils blended with OMS.

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Hi there! It's time for another Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge! Here's this week's sketch:




Our sponsor this week is a member of our SSW design team, Teri. For my card, I used this adorable Scottie dog from Teri. Check out her blog, Teri's Cards and Toppers, to see more of her adorable work.


Be sure to stop by Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and check out the other design team members' cards. We'd love it if you'd play along with us with this week's sketch!

I'm Dreaming of a PINK Christmas...

I needed to come up with a few card ideas for an upcoming stamping get together. I think this one is my favorite. I used two of my favorite things - TAC's "Squirrely Girl" stamp set and lots of my favorite color, pink.


Supplies: Squirrely Girl and Elegant Snowflakes stamps, Uptown Girl dp, Bazzill Monochromatic cardstock in Red-Violets, Prismacolor pencils, Toile Pink and Noir Palette inks, buttons from Lemonade MM Blossoms & Buttons Box, pink Scrappers Floss, all from TAC (The Angel Company). Other: ultrafine glitter, Sakura glue pen.