Happy Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone! The sun has finally decided that it wants to shine a little bit, and I'm tempted to play hooky! Alas, it is the end of the month for me and all sorts of end of the month things need to be worked on.

Like next month's Project of the Month, by Amy and artwork for the next release. I'm hoping it will be at the end of May, but more than likely at the beginning of June. I sent the art for the dies in yesterday, and I'm SOOOOO happy with them.

But, enough of my prattle.

If you haven't noticed the inspiration photo at the top of this post, go take a look. It's the inspiration for this week's TCP Tuesday challenge. Jenny, is the Hostess with the Mostess this week, filling in for Jen, and the rest of the Cat Pack is playing along.

Check out Amy's gorgeous card. It's just dripping with that old-time vintage flair. Then, make your way over to Julie's blog and look at Jen's card. She's back to fine form with this card. You'd never know that she SHOULDN'T be coloring when she's injured. (Just sayin')

Then take a look at Tori's card. She's just under the wire for last week's challenge. And it's a beauty.

Now where was I? Hooky? Or end of the month stuff? Can you guess?

TCP Tuesday 156 and the Weekly Winner

It's Tuesday, so it must be TCP Tuesday!

And Jenny, one of our newest Cat Pack members, is taking over Hostessing the challenge this week, because Jen, our regular Inspiration Challenge Hostess with the Mostess, has burned her arm and cannot (and should not) be coloring or anything that puts any pressure on that nasty burn.

So Jenny is jumping feet first, and I applaud her gumption! Here is the inspiration collage that Jen put together before her accident. Just love this and the vintagey feel. I can almost smell the coffee, can't you?

Head over to Jenny's blog and see what she was inspired to make! Then go over to Jackie's blog. She works her magic again, with patterned paper, and just a wee bit of twine. Finally, head on over the newest member of the Pack, Lori, for her CAS take on this inspiration challenge

The rest of the pack will be posting later this week, so come back here for the scoop on who is posting when.

In the meantime, play along with us and upload your card to the guestbook to be eligible to win some Cat's Cash.

Here are the Deets.

1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge.
2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
3. Add your entry to the guestbook or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES156 for this week's challenge.
4. TCP stamps are not required for this challenge, but highly recommended.
5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays who will win a Gift Voucher for use on The Cat's Pajamas website.
6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

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WEEKLY WINNER!

Jodylynn is this week's Weekly Winner! AND she was yesterday's Pick of the Litter! That gal is not only awesome, but she's lucky, too! Do you think she was rubbing the foot on this rabbit from our Forget about the Cake set, for luck? I have to say... um Mebbe!

Remember, YOU can only win if you play. And don't forget to rub a little rabbit's foot for luck, too.

Have you played along with us on this week's sketch challenge? Leigh, the Hostess with the Mostess, gives us another great sketch to play with.

Want some more inspiration for this really versatile sketch? Just in time for Easter, Julie whips up a cutie of a card using Leigh's technique to make a sky and Jackie strings us along with another one of her delicious cards.

Now it's time for you to get started! Play along with us and upload your card to the guestbook at the bottom of the post here.

Welcome Lori

If you're familiar with our Picks of the Litter, then you are familiar with a name that keeps popping up! Lori Tecler.

Lori's cards are ones that mix texture and pattern easily, and still maintaina CAS design. Her simple, well designed cards seem effortless. And, because I've tried to duplicate her style, I know that it is anything but effortless.

So rather than mimic her look, I asked her to join The Cat Pack! And I am so lucky that she said "Yes"!


Check out this card that she did for the TCP Tuesday Baby Challenge. LOOK at her coloring and the simple design of this card. Every piece works together. Just magic.

I'm so glad that she is joining us!

If you check out today's post from Lori, she's working her magic again on this week's sketch challenge.

And working their own mojo on the sketch are Amy, whose card makes me long to be 40 again (and named Bart), Jen, whose card makes me think of gazing up into the sky, eating chocolate and Carole whose card just makes me happy, because of who I designed that set for, and the glitz and glam.

It's amazing how many different looks, a good sketch will get. It's all about the artist inside, isn't it?

TCP Tuesday 155 & the Weekly Winner

It's Tuesday and it's time for another TCP Tuesday Challenge. This week Leigh is the Hostess with the Mostess and she is teasing us all with a really cool sketch challenge. Leigh always does really great sketches.

As you can see, it's a long and narrow one this time, and it's such a versatile sketch that it can be turned on it's side and used horizontally as well. Once you see it in use, you'll know what I mean. Check out the card that Leigh made. She works this sketch to perfection!

Then, head over to our newest addition to The Cat Pack, Jenny Peterson! She's done TWO different cards for this sketch, with TWO different looks. She's amazing!

The rest of the pack will be posting later this week, so come back here for the scoop on who is posting when.

In the meantime, play along with us and upload your card to the guestbook to be eligible.

Here are the Deets.

1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge.
2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
3. Add your entry to the guestbook or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES155 for this week's challenge.
4. TCP stamps are not required for this challenge, but highly recommended.
5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays.
6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

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WEEKLY WINNER!

And NOW, the moment you've all been waiting for! The Weekly Winner. We had only a couple of players last week, which meant that if you played, you had a pretty good chance of winning.

The winner for this week? Nancy Thomas!


And she won with this CUTE baby card that she made for the TCP Tuesday BABY Challenge! So Cute. Nancy, I'll be contacting you with the gift voucher you WON just for playing.

Congrats!

TCP Tuesday 154 and Weekly Winner!

Surprise! This week I am your Hostess with the Mostess.

Not only is it TCP Tuesday, but The Cat's Pajamas and The Cat Pack are celebrating a brand new baby!

Last week, one of The Cat Pack had a little baby boy! Tracy Falco, who has been a member of The Cat Pack since almost the very beginning, had her very first baby! We are jumping with joy over here and we want to share our joy with you, and her newly expanded family.

So, in honor of the NEW baby the TCP Tuesday Challenge is to create anything baby, using The Cat's Pajamas stamps. AND to further celebrate this little bundle of joy, we are kicking off the start of this precious life with a blog hop!

I love the idea of stamping on fabric, so that's what I did. I stamped using Stazon ink, onto white bib and onesie blanks I found at Joanne's and some patterned fabric.


Tracy loves owls, and I knew little baby Falco would be surrounded by owls, so I thought I'd use some of the animals in our Happy Camper set and in the Ewe Complete Me set. After I stamped, I colored in with fabric paint 'cause Stazon is not recommended for fabric. A little fabric ink on the end of a Q-Tip gave the sheep a little color. If I were to do it again, I would find real fabric, like Crafter's Ink.

For the onesies, I cut and pieced the fabric like I would with paper, but instead used Stitch Witchery as my adhesive. I found that Fray Check (to stop fraying) dissolved the Stazon, so I chose to seal the edges with fabric paint. Fingers crossed it works. We'll see after the next wash.


Then, I stitched in grass and flowers. I had done a sampler in Girl Scouts, but since that was well (well) over 30 years ago, my stitching was a little rusty. But, I like the way it looks.

If you want to play along and help us celebrate all things baby, check the deets below and upload your card or project to the guestbook.

Next up in the hop is Tori, and boy, does she have something special to show you!

Here are the Deets.

1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge.
2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
3. Add your entry to the guestbook or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES154 for this week's challenge.
4. TCP stamps are required for this challenge.
5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays.
6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

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Weekly Winner!

And the Weekly Winner is Chris Veneruso. The random generator picked #6 and Chris' lovely card was the sixth entry. Don't you love how Chris added those yummy cupcakes to her card? FAB!

You could win, too! You only have to play.

Winding down

No, you are not crazy. I thought I'd put up the TCP Tuesday badge, yet again, because some of The Cat Pack were busy stamping this weekend and I wanted to give you more inspiration for YOU to stamp.

You just have until midnight tonight to enter for tomorrow's Weekly Winner. Just stamp up a card using the colors in this week's challenge (see below) and upload it in the guestbook at the bottom of this post.

Need more time? Upload your card by the end of the month and you could be chosen Swanky Stamper and win some of our new release stamps!

So check out this eye candy. Tori, stamps out this yummy card. It's full of little touches that surprise and delight me every time I look at it. And Amy, continually wows me with her cards. She constantly uses materials you wouldn't expect and her card designs are truly original.

Need more? Head on over to our Forum on Splitcoaststampers! Every weekday we post a special card or project that we've spotted using our stamps that we think is the Pick of the Litter. Check it out.

Welcome, Jenny!

If you've hung around The Cat Pajamas at all, you won't be surprised hear the name, Jenny Peterson.

You might have seen Jenny's cards as a Pick of the Litter. And, Jenny has been a multi-time winner of the coveted Swanky Stamper title. She's also played along with The Cat Pack at our Pajama Parties and on our blog hops. So when Sony decided to leave The Cat Pack, I knew that it was fated for me to ask Jenny to join us.

Not only is she a talented artist, but a mother of THREE boys and a registered nurse! To top it off, she teaches nursing, too.

And Jenny really knows her way around The Cat's Pajamas stamps and CutUps dies, too! Check out this card that she made using stamps from different stamp sets and the Big Scallops CutUps. So very sweet.

And if that weren't impressive enough, she did the inside too! She's Fab. After seeing this card, I knew I had to ask her to join us.

Welcome, Jenny! Can't wait to see what you'll stamp up next.

TCP Tuesday 153 pt. 3

Have you stamped up your TCP Tuesday Color Challenge entry, yet?

The challenge is Sony's last one as hostess of the color challenge, and she's challenging everyone to play with the color combo of Yellow, Orange and Teal.

Want some inspiration to get you started? You got it! Toni gives us another of her artistic creations, Jen gives her twist on CAS cards, and Julie stamps up another creation that I know I will copy...ahem...recreate, again and again. And, Jackie works her magic on a card that is just so special you have to see for yourself.

Now I want to see what you come up with. Just upload your card to the guestbook. And, you just might win some Cat's Cash, too!

And come back tomorrow. We've got some exciting news!

TCP Tuesday Con't

No it's not TCP Tuesday, but share some more Cat Pack goodness with you.

The challenge is Sony's last one as hostess of the color challenge, as she is leaving the team, and everyone on The Cat Pack is pulling out all the stops to show you what you can do with this super cool color combo of Yellow, Orange and Teal.

Did you check out yesterday's post? Sony, Leigh and Julie worked their magic with these colors and now Carole is strutting her stuff. AND she's working it with another challenge, to boot. That Carole is not only pretty, but she's got some kinda talent to back it up.

Wanna Play? You know you do. Just upload your card to the guestbook so that we can all ooohhh and ahhh over it. And, you just might win some Cat's Cash, too!

TCP Tuesday & the Weekly Winner

It's TCP Tuesday! And Sony is the Hostess with the Mostess, today and she is giving us a tasty color challenge.

It's a little bittersweet over at the Cat House, because this will be Sony's last TCP Tuesday's hostessing gig. As you may know, Sony is in school and keeping her busy, busy. So busy that she will be leaving The Cat Pack to concentrate on school.

I, for one, applaud her. She is an awesome artist, and when her schooling is complete, she will be a creative force to watch and enjoy. And, I can't wait for the time that I see her winning an Oscar for her work, and say I knew her when. And, I'll miss her. She has so much life and energy and creative juice, she tires me out.

But on to the challenge. Sony's last color challenge is a doozy. She wants you to use yellow, orange and teal in your project or card.

Then, you need to upload it into the guestbook at the bottom of this post. You'll be eligible to win a little Cat's Cash if you do. Or, you could win the big prize. You could be the next Swanky Stamper and win stamps and dies from our next release.

Want some inspiration? Check out Sony, Leigh and Julie!

Here are the Deets.

1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge.
2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
3. Add your entry to the guestbook or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES153 for this week's challenge.
4. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a

specific stamp}
5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays.
6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

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And the Weekly Winner for this Week is ANNE!


She didn't use any Cat's Pajamas stamps. But, that didn't stop her from playing or winning.

You could win, too! You just have to play.

One Week Ago

It's been nearly a week since we had our March release and I have to say, I think you guys really liked it. We had 8 NEW Clearly Swanky Sets and 4 New CutUps dies released and we are busy packing orders.

Since I was out of town the week before the release, I didn't have a chance to see all the wonderful cards and projects that The Cat Pack created with the stamp sets and dies. I just uploaded a slew of them onto the gallery section of the website, but I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.


This cute card by Tracy Falco uses the set Field of Pinwheels. She also uses our NEW Pinwheel CutUps die that cuts both the large and small pinwheel at one time. AND Tracy uses the NEW Grass CutUps die, too. I love how she nestles the sentiment in even more grass. In fact, it's the negative space that was cut when she cut the larger bit. So you get two different looks from one die. I love that about this CutUps.


Don't you just love this colorful card from Toni? She really makes her cards little bits of art. She uses the Catch My Drift Clearly Swanky Set for this card.


When I saw this card by Susan Liles, my jaw just dropped. Not only did she color the image in Wet Puddle to perfection, but check out how she made the umbrella using our Easy Rosette CutUps. And she tucked the notched banner from the same die behind the main image.


This card by Jackie Pedro, is just luscious. Her choice of colors (yes, even the blue frosting) on the card using A Girl and Her Cake, is yummy. And I love the way she added just that bit of grass from the Grass CutUps die to the edge of the panel. So whimsical.


I love the Clean and Simple design of this card by Julie Masse. She uses the Grass, and Easy Rosette CutUps dies to perfection. And that sentiment from our Simply Said Clearly Swanky Set used as a stem? Brilliant.


One thing, among the many things I love about Tori Wild is that she's not afraid of color. She embraces it. Check out the card using PJ from the What a Blast Clearly Swanky Set. If you haven't noticed, it's Pink. Okay, there's some red in there, too, but mostly Pink. With Kraft and black and white. Love this combo and the Pinwheel tucked jauntily into the corner.


Jen del Muro is not afraid of color either. Just check out this card using The Tweetest Things and our Home Tweet Home CutUps. Her card's design just makes me want to sing.


Here's another look at the same The Tweetest Things Clearly Swanky Set and our Home Tweet Home CutUps. This one by Sony Christoph. Same stamp set and die, but a completely different look. Just terrific.


Here's Carole's take on a completely different set, Idols. This card is everything I imagined, when I designed this set—only better. Love that she popped up the penguins and accessorized them with the pompadour, mop top hair, epaulets and glove in the set. I love it, yeah, yeah, yeah!

This card by Leigh is truly one of my favorites. I love the simplicity of the card and the concept. She uses Catch My Drift with the Simply Said Clearly Swanky Set and the Easy Rosette CutUps. The bear floating along the countryside with that sentiment is just perfect. I can bearly stand it. (Yes, I said it, bearly)


And then, lastly, this beauty by Amy. I don't know how she thinks of these things, but a tussie mussie of pinwheels? Wow. She used a lot of CutUps on this heartstopper. But, mainly the Pinwheel CutUps. See the wee one at the bottom? Then she added "I Miss You" from the Simply Said set. Amy, if I stay away long enough will you miss me enough to send this to me?