Sunflower Studio

FREE CAT'S PAJAMAS STUFF!

Hey, Katie Stilwater - another member of The Cat's Pajamas design team - is giving away some TCP stuff on her blog.  There's nothin' better than free stuff, right?!  Click here to head on over and enter to win!

AND...just a hint...I'm slowly coming up on a whopping 100,000 hits on my blog.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!?!  It's truly amazing.  I collected some really fab stuff at CHA and I'm gonna give some of it away.  Be sure to check back for more details soon!!  I would think that it'll happen in the next few weeks....

IF YOU'VE GOT IT, HAUNT IT!

I think I'm done with Halloween now.  As much as I love it, it seems like it's been going on forever.  I needed to eek out one more card for my family.  If I could only get them in the mail on time.  NOPE!  We're always late in my family.  Be on the lookout for your Halloween cards, family.  You'll get them sometime before Thanksgiving...ha!
    I did purchase a bunch of new Halloween stamps this year so I had to try and use all of them at least once.  I think I may have done that but I wouldn't hold my breath on it.  Anyway, this card features three fun stamps from The Cat's Pajamas.  And how cool is this bat paper?!  It's from K&Company and the images all have a raised, kinda puffy foam-like texture.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!
Supplies:  Stamps - Crooked House (E-5253), Bats (D-6326), and Haunt It (D-5262) all from The Cat's Pajamas; CS - Eggplant Envy, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black, White Shimmery and watercolor; Ink - Black Brilliance, Black Versafine, Elegant Eggplant, Eggplant Envy, Not Quite Navy, Always Artichoke; Other - black gingham ribbon from SU!, brads, Black Detail EP, waterbrush, thin black and thin green markers, patterned paper by K&Company.

GIVE THANKS, KITTY TURKEY

HA!  How funny is it that this stamp is called 'Kitty Turkey'!?!  LOVE IT!
    This is another try at Sketch #1 from Alma at The Cat's Pajamas.  I turned it upside down though.  I usually love sketches.  They're so great for getting a card started because they take the design planning part out of the mix.  My problem is that I was scrounging around in the patterned papers this week and they want to play too.  They keep trying to take over all of the cards.  HA!  So then, I have to work AROUND that patterned paper to create the rest of the sketch.  I'm thinkin' this is more of a 'loose' version of the sketch and then it's upside down to boot!
    I'm not done with Halloween yet...even though I've posted a bunch of T-giving cards this week.  I have got to get a few spooky cards made today so that I can mail them to my family.  Check back later for those!
Supplies:  Stamps - Kitty Turkey (F-7500) and Give Thanks (D-7501) from The Cat's Pajamas; CS - Always Artichoke, River Rock, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, White from SU!; Ink - Brilliance Black and various SU! dye inks for watercoloring; Other - Cuttlebug scalloped frame die and Cuttlebug, SU! Copper Hodgepodge Hardware brads, May Arts ribbon, Crystal Effects on 'give', kitty's hat and tail feathers, patterned paper from Heidi Grace.

BLOGGER'S CHALLENGE #18 - DESIGNER SERIES PAPER

I'm going to have to blame this week's purchases completely on Anna Wight.  (I mean, really, take a look at her blog...that girl could talk you into anything...she makes EVERYTHING look good!)  Well she sent me a link to a discussion going on in the Dirty Dozen Alumni Forum over at Splitcoast.  Those amazing gals had all just discovered Elzybells stamps.  It's a new line from England that A Muse Artstamps is now distributing.  I had resisted these stamps thus far but was pushed over the edge by a Dirty Girl blog challenge.  Ten minutes into reading the discussion...and $50 later...I had placed my first order.  And guess what?  That was late Tuesday night and my new stamps arrived today, Friday!  THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY THE CUTEST STAMPS.    They're just soooo sweet.  I wanna sqeeze 'em!  You can click here and go over to the Elzybells blog and place your order...you know you want some...resistance is futile!
    I chose to use my adorable little 'Pucker Up' Elzybells stamp in conjunction with Stampin' Up!s Wintergreen designer series paper for Blogger's Challenge #18.  I'll go way out on a limb here and suggest that this particular Stampin' Up! package of paper is their best EVER.  The color combination of Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow, Certainly Celery, and Soft Sky is trendy and gorgeous.  I can't get enough of it and there's not a bad sheet in the pack! (And you all know that has happened in the past with SU! papers - they're not usually on the cutting edge in the scrapbook paper department.)  Note to self:  I must remember to get some more before it possibly retires at the end of the year!
    Oh, and another little update, I DID go on over to Michael's today and buy a whole bunch more of that craft seam binding.  The colors are so great...I now have almost all of the available colors AND I bought a ribbon box to keep them in.  Did you know you can use your coupons on Martha stuff now?  BONUS!!!
    I'm heading off to check out the other BC gals now...wonder what they did with their DSP this week?  Don't miss them...the list is on the right.----->>>>
Supplies:  Stamps - Pucker Up (E0009) and Beautiful Christmas (9-8276) from Elzybells and A Muse; CS - Always Artichoke, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery from SU!; Ink - Black Versafine and various SU! dye inks for watercoloring; Other - Martha Stewart craft seam binding in Cloud, brads, Red Stickles, sponge, waterbrush.

LET IT SNOW!

    When I was in Chicago, over the summer, I splurged on handfuls of new A Muse stamps.  This little snow angel was one that I just couldn't resist.  And you all know how enthralled I am with A Muse stamps but did you also know that there's a Yahoo group for A Muse Addicts?  You can click here for information on that group.  Each week they have a challenge and people create cards and post a link to them to the group so that we can ooh and aah over each other.  This week's challenge was to make a card that a kid would enjoy.  I dare you to find a kid that's NEVER made a snow angel.  (Just kidding...if there is one...I don't wanna know about it.  YOU TAKE YOUR BEHIND OUTSIDE THE FIRST TIME THAT IT SNOWS AND MAKE ONE!...hee hee!)
    Again, as we all know, I'm a big A Muse stamp fan.  My problem is that I don't have the 'clean and simple' technique in my stamping repertoire.  Take a look at the gallery at A Muse or at the blog of any of their designers.  Always clean and simple...many times with one layer - images stamped right onto the card front!  I DO admire these cards but I need layers, and ribbon, some patterned paper, maybe a few brads, some glitter, and at least a few pieces of double stick foam tape.  Try as I might to stay true the the A Muse ideal...these things just find their way into my cards.  It's not good, bad, or otherwise...just different.  AND, there's no wrong way to stamp and that's the beauty of it.
    Anyway, this is about as close as I can come to A Muse style.  With such a darling image to create with you almost can not go wrong.  This is the first time that I dared to open one of the spools of Martha Stewart craft seam binding as well.  WOW!  It's sooooo nice and ties a great knot.  I'm off to Michael's tomorrow to get ALL of the colors!!  What....you don't need ALL of the colors?  OH YES YOU DO!
Supplies:  Stamps - Snow Angel (7-2140D) and Let it Snow (9-8098B), CS - Pretty in Pink, Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery from SU!, watercolor paper; Ink - Black Versafine, various SU! dye inks for watercoloring; Other - new A Muse 4-bar notecard (Kitchen collection in blue), Martha Stewart craft seam binding in Cloud, waterbrush, scalloped square punch from Marvy - the purple one.

MORE TURKEY!

HA!  I've got turkey on the brain now! 
    This is sketch #2 from Alma at The Cat's Pajamas.  Have you seen Pilgrim Poochie?!  Well why not?  How can you resist him!?  The sentiment from TCP actually reads "GOBBLE. GOBBLE. GOBBLE." I only needed one 'gobble' for this card so I only inked up one word on the stamp.  Is anyone else interested in some turkey?
Supplies:  Stamps - Pilgrim Poochie (F-7507) and Gobble (D-7504) from The Cat's Pajamas; CS - textured by DCWV, Old Olive, Really Rust, and White from SU!; Ink - Black Versafine, Moss, Dark Brown, and Chestnut Roan Colorbox Fluid Chalk inks; Other - all patterned papers and ribbon from KI Memories, brads, think black marker, More Mustard SU! marker, SU! Crystal Effects on hat, turkey, and Poochie.

MMMMM....TURKEY DAY IS COMIN'!

    Turkey day is my favorite food day of the entire year.  Yea, yea...I know you can make that meal on other days too but when you have the whole deal on the actual day it's just THAT much better....I can't wait!  So, for a little contest on the A Muse Yahoo group, I made this Thanksgiving card.

    I'm off to get things started for dinner...nope...not turkey...just plain ole steak...ha!  (I'd really rather have turkey though!)
Supplies:  Stamps - all by A Muse Artstamps; CS - Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Really Ruse, Old Olive plus watercolor paper from Marco's; Ink - Basic Brown from SU! and various others for watercoloring, Walnut Distress ink for sponging; Other - patterned paper by The Paper Studio, scalloped edge scissors, ribbon from May Arts, SU! Hodgepodge Hardware in Copper, waterbrush, sponge.

WAVERUNNER

We've been enjoying terrific weather here in the Mid-Atlantic.  I wish the 70s could be what we have every day.  So, we headed to the beach this past weekend and actually went to the beach!  Kyle loves to play at the water's edge. He does venture to where his toes get wet but, more often than not, as soon as the waves crash he runs back to sandy safety.  He's so fun to watch as he just enjoys his life!
Digital Scrapbooking Kits/Supplies: Sun Porch by Amy Teets at ShabbyPrincess.com (patterned papers, brads), Birthday Grab Bag by ShabbyPrincess.com (swirls), Smarshmallows by ShabbyPrincess.com (torn cardboard), Wild Love by ShabbyPrincess.com (pin w/tag), One Fine Day by Michelle Underwood at Scrapbook_Bytes.com (alphabet letters), Ariel font.

GO, POOCHIE, GO!

Alma at The Cat's Pajamas challenged the design team with a sketch in the first week of October.  And here I am finally getting to it in the third week.  EEEEK!  October has been a slow stamping month.
    This fun card features Skating Poochie.  You can find him in one of the new Clearly Swanky sets from TCP.  He's in the Poochie Christmas set.  The sentiment is from the Polar Holiday set.  I love these clear sets.  They're just $15.00 for each set and the images are so dang cute!  AND, if you decide that you really want just a few of the images from the set you can get them singly on a wood mount as well.
    Here's a funny story about Skating Poochie....
    A while back I was working on some cards using my clear TCP sets.  Everything was going great and I was just crafting away.  At one point I decided to get the Cuttlebug out and use that for part of my card.  I can't even remember which card it was now but I put my paper in the embossing folder and then in the sandwich thingy and started to roll it through.  I was having THE hardest time getting that thing to roll through.  Of course...I just cranked it harder and forced it through.  I took out my embossed paper...all looked good and I made my card.  It was only then - when I was cleaning up - that I started looking for Poochie.  I looked high and low...under my table...down the side...with the scrap paper...in the tool drawer...he was nowhere to be found.  After a good long while of searching, a lightening bolt struck!  Now...WHY-OH-WHY was it so hard to roll that paper through the Cuttlebug?  I got that thing back out...I slowly pried open the doors...and in a whole bunch of little acrylic pieces was Poochie.  The horror of it all!  Thankfully, Alma showed pity on my stupidity and sent me a new Poochie.  THE MORAL OF THE STORY:  Put those wonderful acrylic stamps away after you use them so that they don't get stuck somewhere unexpected!  I learned my lesson that time for sure.

BLOGGER'S CHALLENGE #17 - INSPIRED BY...

The Blogger's Challenge for this week is another 'inspired by' challenge.  I'm not sure what the deal is but these are always the hardest ones for me.  I think it would be easier if I actually received some home or fashion mags to get my inspiration from.  And although I love those magazines, I spend all of my periodical  money on stamping and scrapbooking magazines, of course!
    We're in the middle of painting our master bedroom - and I do mean 'middle' because only some walls are partially painted and it's been that way for a few weeks now.  We're goin' nowhere fast!  It's sort of a good thing because we're still dealing with warranty issues on the house and the drywall guys came this week to fix holes and such.  They really couldn't do much with anywhere that we had already painted a color - almost all of the downstairs falls under that category.
    Oh my...how do I get so off course!  Anyway, I purchased this wonderful bedding - duvet cover and shams - from Target that matches the bedroom paint color perfectly.  I would consider it a salmon/coral/terra cotta mix.  Target calls it 'coral'...the paint cans say 'terra cotta'.  The duvet is mainly that coral color but it has a subtle floral pattern in a tan.  AND...that all inspired this fall card design.  
    I used SU!s Baroque background stamp as my central image.  I sponged the Really Rust CS with a sponge dauber and Really Rust ink to darken that layer a bit.  I then stamped in Versamark ink and used Ranger/Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress EP to complete the look.  The sentiment is from Savvy stamps.  And while I 'pooh-poohed' that new wide grosgrain ribbon that SU! came out with I've decided that you CAN actually use wide ribbon on a card.  This dark brown is from my old stash but I'm gonna have to get some of the SU! stuff soon!
    Be sure to check out the other BC gals this week to see what inspired them.  The list hasn't moved...it's over ------->>>>> here on the right.