Happy Hearts

Stamps: Hero Arts 'Happiness Messages'. Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Basic Grey 'Bittersweet' DP. Ink: Chocolate Chip. Accessories: heart punch, chocolate grosgrain ribbon, Basic Grey mini buttons.

This is one of my all-time favorite sentiments; whenever I see it I think of Madame Blueberry! Any other Veggie Tales fans out there? Here's some of the 'Thankful Heart' lyrics:

Because a thankful heart is a happy heart!
I'm glad for what I have,
Thats an easy way to start!

Out of the mouth of singing babes? It's definitely a worthwhile motto to live by.

This card may be CAS, but still manages to encompass two challenges:

Sweet Sunday sketch challenge #51; this is probably the closest I've ever come to exactly following a sketch!

Tuesday Morning sketch #28 is taking a break from sketches and challenging us to use buttons and bows; see the little mini buttons next to the sentiment?

Wishing you a happy heart kind of day!

More Cocoa, Please!

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio 'LilyHot Cocoa', freebie sentiment. Cardstock: DCWV textured blue and 'winter mat stack', Night of Navy, GP 110 white. Ink: Copics. Accessories: white flocking, glitter snowflake brad, Adornaments fiber.

These digital images by Pink Cat Studio (PCS) are not only adorable and easy to store, but they can also be re-sized to fit any sketch like this fun sketch #35 by the Midnight Madness team. And PCS even has accompanying digital sentiments for free!

Like most of the Midwest, we've been experiencing frigid temperatures for the past week. It's so cold that the snow squeaks when you walk on it and you don't dare go outside without being completely bundled up like Ralphie (I can't put my arms down!). Despite this, we actually took the girls out sledding since it was the first 'sleddable' snow (barely) of the season:

We also found this pre-made igloo, the perfect winter playhouse:

Lily is definitely ready for the weather; not only does she have her hot cocoa, but she's also wearing her flock-trimmed winter gear:

Stay warm and keep that hot cocoa steaming!

Saturday Spotlight 13: Love Without Hearts!

Stamps: Stampabilties 'Wreath Love 02'. Cardstock: Kraft, Papertrey white, Basic Grey 'Bittersweet'. Ink: Memento black, Copics. Accessories: SU scallop border punch, Papertrey chocolate satin ribbon, Basic Grey rub-on sentiment.

Are you ready for another unique challenge at Saturday Spotlight?! Here is what the Spotlight Divas are challenging YOU to try:

The Spotlight Divas would like to challenge you to make a Valentine/wedding/love style creation with NO HEARTS used on it!! So think of another way to represent "love" without using hearts!

Our Spotlight sponsor this week is...

(click HERE to go to store.)

For my challenge, I used the elegant Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #55 and combined it with my first-ever House Mouse stamp. These two little cuties started my obsession with the cute critters, but I have to admit that it is NOT an easy image to color with everything on such a miniature scale!

These two definitely qualify in the 'romantic' category, especially when combined with the sweet Basic Grey rub-on sentiment.

Be sure to check out the other Spotlight Diva's definitions of romance:

Vicki (Stamped Smiles)
Chris (Twinkles Glows with Stamps)
Boni (Bonibleaux Designs)
Crystal (Crystal's Crafty Creations)
Darlene (Dar's Crafty Creations)
Dawn (My Stamping Thyme)
Erin (Scrap, Stamp and Be Merry)
Jodi (Inked Inspirations)
Maria (Joyful Stamper)

Then link up your own creations to the Saturday Spotlight #13 post for a chance to win the following:

**One lucky winner from our challenge in Mister Linky this week drawn from random.org will receive a 10 pounds gift voucher to spend in the store!!**

MWAH!

Sparkling Birthday Wishes

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio 'Sugarplum fairy', Stamping Bella sentiment. Cardstock: Papertrey Poppy, DCWV 'Citrus Stack' DP, GP 110 white. Ink: Copics. Accessories: Papertrey Poppy grosgrain ribbon, Stardust glitter pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, gem brad.

After finally organizing my card stash, I realized I'm still running low on birthday cards so it's time to challenge myself to stock up! Lucky for me, this fun sketch #27 by Tuesday Morning Sketches is the perfect layout for showcasing bits of this cheery DP. Doesn't it feel like a touch of summer?

The TCP Tuesday challenge by Dancing in Pajamas is to be 'glitterific' so I used glittery DP, Dazzling Diamonds on her wings, and a Stardust glitter pen to provide more sparkly accents:


Stay tuned for tomorrow's Saturday Spotlight; it's a great challenge to keep you on track in 2010!

Trimming Down

Stamps: My Sentiment's Exactly 'Snow Fun'. Cardstock: Soft Sky, Old Olive, Textured red, Basic Grey 'Figgy Pudding'. Ink: Riding Hood Red. Accessories: Circle punch, SU scallop border punch, buttons, Stardust glitter pen.

Trimming down is my theme for the new year; in fact, 'Downsize' is the word I'm adopting as my own for 2010, a concept I first learned of from Sparkle' blog (Sparkle's Creations). Right now 'downsize' has very negative connotations in our family since my husband has been downsized out of a job, but I want to use the word for good, as in downsizing my clutter, downsizing my spending, downsizing myself so my clothing fits again, and most of all, downsizing stress about the things I can't change!

This card fits with the downsizing theme, in that it's a Clean and Simple style inspired by Clean & Simple Stamping's Fall-To sketch #73 and the Opus Gluei challenge #36: 'Let's Trim Down'. Trim in this case also refers to the buttons which is the challenge in Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge Week #5. I went with a winter theme since not only do I not need quite so many holiday cards, but I'm also not quite ready for Christmas projects yet.

Now it's off to finish downsizing the contents of my kitchen cabinets!

Time for Divine Influence!

It's time for some Divine Influence! Today's featured blogger is Charlene of 'Paper and Ink Playground'. I've been a follower of this talented lady for quite some time and had fun browsing through even older posts to choose projects to showcase on today's post.

Be sure to stop by The Divine Influence for a sample of Charlene's amazing creations, links to her tutorials, and even some organizing tips!

Saturday Spotlight 12: Calendar Craze!

Digital image by Mo Manning '2010 Baby Bella and Bronte'. Computer generated date and Cat's Coaster 2010 Calendar. Carstock: black, silver, GP110 white, My Mind's Eye 'Party Time'. Ink: Copics. Accessories: gemstones, Marcella K snowflakes, rectangle and oval nestabilities, ribbon, Stardust glitter pens.

The Divas are excited and ready to get back into another year of FUN challenges! We hope that you are ready as well!

*Welcome to the first Saturday Spotlight challenge of the 2010 NEW YEAR!*

For this week's challenge.....

The Spotlight Divas would like to challenge you to go CRAZY with calendars! Whether you decided to make a coaster calendar, a calendar notebook, an easel card with a miniature calendar, tear up your old 2009 calendar for some collage background pieces or get out your calendar stamps/images and just use one month for inspiration....we would love to see you get into the calendar craze with us! Don't have a calendar? Here's a link you can use to print off any or all months of 2010: Click Here! (Check out the Spotlight Diva inspiration on the blog!)

My calendar project is made to be mounted on a 4" x 4" chipboard coaster (2010 coaster calendar template by Cat HERE). I hosted a swap on SplitCoastStampers where we created a 2009 House Mouse version and was very sad to see the last month of it, so I decided to continue the project for 2010.

Not only does it qualify for the Calendar Craze challenge, but also fits the bill for these challenges:

**Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge #12: New Beginnings. Babies and puppies are definitely new beginnings, and celebrating the New Year is my favorite way to clear the slate and start with a fresh New Year. This image is actually free, available for download to all of the Digital Pencil group members on Papercraft Planet.

**Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge #26, a fun sketch, perfect for framing Baby Bella and Bronte.

**Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #34, a wonderful oval element for the calendar and the prima converted into snowflakes for the winter theme.

For our Spotlight sponsor this week we have...
(click HERE to go to store.)

**One lucky winner from our challenge in Mister Linky this week drawn from random.org will receive any three single images OR a set OR a PDF from the shop!!**

Go crazy with those calendars and link your creations HERE to inspire us and enter yourself in the prize drawing!