That time of year

Well folks, it's that time of year again. Time for family and friends and cats and dogs. Time for just being together. So I will be taking a little blogging break until the end of the year. Hopefully, I will be able to show you just what we've all been so hush-hush about.

Merry Christmas to Tracy, and Toni, and Julee, and Leigh and Janis. Katie and Karrie and Ana and Gayle. Merry Christmas to Steph and Dave and Cat and Johanna. Sharon in NE and Brenda and Kim and Robert .

Merry Christmas to All. And to all a Good Night.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. Busy working on the Summer Release set in my head. (Yes, it is that time that I mumble incoherently and scramble for bits of paper whenever I come up with an idea.

Then I start drawing. I'm also thinking about next Winter's Release which should come right after Summer. And Fall? It's in there too.

And I've been stamping, but I can't show you yet, since it's for my Secret Santa. And if I post it here, it will cease being a secret, dontcha know.

So I thought I'd show you a coupla cards I received in the mail.
First, this one from Katie. I love how she pulled the colors from the paper. You can't see it in the scan, but she added glitter to the muff and fur bits for that extra glam.

Then I got this card from Brenda in Hawaii, that just cracked me up. Santa Poochie surfing! And she used the swirls from the Clearly Swanky Sets for the waves. Christmas in Hawaii. Super fun!

Project of the Month

Did you all check out the great Project of the Month for December? It's the great Penguin Nugget Box that Julee Tilman did.

Because I am getting a little tired of Christmas (yes, yes I know, but I have been thinking Christmas since July) I decided to take the same template and do a baby favor. Because the template is also online it makes it super easy.

I used Cosmo Cricket paper, and the Rectangle Nestabilities for the top part. I stamped "Sweet Peas" and "Welcome Little One" in Versafine Smokey Gray. For the labels I used the same ink and stamped "Budding Baby". With the small square Versafine pad it was easy to not ink the ribbon that is on the stamp.

Then I colored the images with pencil, marker, and the Stardust glitter pen. The finishing touch was to stipple in Distress Ink. I used Tattered Rose and Antique Linen.

And at the end of the day, there is even a couple of extra nuggets as my reward.

Snow in San Francisco

Did anyone see the super cute snowglobes over at Karrie's blog? I knew I had to make one. So I got Mocha working on getting me a couple of empty small cat food cans, and I worked on the other parts.

It seems pretty straight forward, because I had these directions. But it turned out I needed these. Which are slightly different, dontcha know? So I finally finished the globe and when the glue looked like it was dry, I turned it over. Surprise! It wasn't.

This is my second attempt. Sheesh, that Karrie makes everything look so effortless.

Santa Baby!

I've been a slug about stamping this week which may have something to do with eating 15 lbs of food on Thanksgiving, and clearing out another 15 lbs of leftovers yesterday. (Leftovers all gone!) So I decided to post one of my favorite cards from last year.

I decided to go a little mod with this crazy little Santa. So I used untraditional orange, light blue and green as the color combo. I stamped the Santa and sentiment in Versafine Deep Lagoon and "Balls" in Brilliance Pearlescent Ice Blue. I love how it looks white and frosty more than blue when it stamps out.

Black Friday

I hope everyone had a safe and filling Thanksgiving day. And now Black Friday. The day that everyone goes out and buys 1 gift for someone else for every 2 for yourself. (Well, at least that was how it worked for me.)

Me? I'm going to try and walk off the 3000 calories that I know I ingested in one sitting, by taking a nice long walk. Finished off with a nice long nap.

But before that, I'm going to call my sister and ask for her Sweet Potato recipe. Yumm!

Have a safe Friday, everyone.

A Success!

Thank you all for making The Cat's Pajamas SALE a success. Anthony and I have been as busy as little bees getting them out. We hope to have every last one of them out no later than Tuesday. Some of you may even have them in your hot little hands.

I've been on a soup kick for the last couple of weeks. And with the SALE and all, I can totally relate. This one involved several trips to the stamp and fabric store for the perfect ribbon. I stamped "Ruff Day" and "Chicken Soup" in Versafine Majestice Blue. I like how this turned out. But if I microanalyze it, perhaps I should have used a different saying.

SHOP NOW!

Fine Print: This sale is for internet orders only. Mail orders will be returned. Shipping is based on order totals prior to discount. Only one discount given per order. Discounts cannot be combined. Sale begins 12:00 AM PST 11/16/07 and ends 12:00 AM PST 11/19/07.

Just Jack

Okay. One more card to tempt you all to come to the SALE at The Cat's Pajamas tomorrow through Sunday.I made this card for a sketch challenge I give The Cat's Pajamas DT members every 2 weeks. It's more for me, really, than them, since it gives me an excuse to stamp. You can see the original sketch on Katie's Blog.

I used paper from The Great Paper Company and Die Cuts with a View. As well as rub downs from Die Cuts. (In my day we called them rub downs, okay?) And stamped the Jack in the Box and saying in Versafine Smokey Grey.

Don't forget the SALE starting tonight! I'll be pulling the switch for the 25% discount at midnight PST!

But First...

I could tell you about the Big SALE that The Cat's Pajamas will be having starting Friday, November 16. But Leigh's already told you about that. I could tell you that you'll get 25% off your entire order. But Toni's already told you that.

So instead, finally, a card. This one I did following a sketch that my Design Team did. And, of course, mine is late.


I scored the acetate and used Stazon Opaque White Cotton to stamp the Dot Circle, Small, Large and Medium Circle Snowflakes. When everything was dry I folded the inked side to the inside.

Then I used Versafine Onyx Black to stamp "Naughty or Nice?" and "Candy Cane Kitty". Then a bit of layering magic with my Basic Grey Figgy Pudding stash, and Voila. Then I colored in with Sakura Stardust pens, Marvy Markers and color pencils.

This wasn't my first shot at this though.

I had spent all day on another design featuring Skating Poochie. I was hoping to use them for Christmas Cards. But alas, while running the finished layers through the Xyron I realized that I had run them upside down. All 2 dozen of them. With glue on their pretty little faces.

Luckily, Anthony took pity on me and took me out for a Roast Beef dinner. Then I came home and did these. I like them so much better. Amazing what a good piece of meat will do.

Whaz upppp?

One of the things I love about Mocha is that she reminds me so much of my dearly departed ferret, Punky.

Punky was such a curious little boy, that each time he came home from being out, he would check the entire house for anything that was out of place. Mocha is the same way. Though she can be a bit neurotic. Here she is coming out of the dryer. Mind you, this is one of those dryers that is on top of the washer.

Okay. Stamping news.

I have updated the gallery at The Cat's Pajamas with some absolutely BRILLIANT (yes, I said BRILLIANT) work by some of our Design Team.
And if you haven't see the Project of the Month, featuring the awesome Give Thanks Crackled card by our own Toni Armstrong, you must get yourself over there. Now shoo!

Ahh!

Sometime during "Heros", I stretched out and realized that the new Winter release was in the most capable hands of someone else.

After a month or so of research, drawing, procrastination, fiddling with and more fiddling with, I finally sent the artwork for the new release to the clear stamp manufacturer and the engraver.

During that month my life virtually grinds to a halt. Bills are left to the last minute, the house cleaning gets left by the wasteside. Email? What is that?

I walk around thinking about nothing but what I am going to draw. Then feverishly looking for something to scrawl on and with, when I do. The most common word to come out of my mouth is, "Huh".

And now it is over and a deep calm comes over me. Until I see those bills, and that email and that house. Ugh. That house.

Such is my life.

Yeah Baby!

Have you checked out Katie's blog? Her blog hits just reached 20,000! Yay, Katie!

And to celebrate she's giving away some blog candy. Yup. Yup. Yup. What could it possibly be? Oh it's looking clear to me now...

Now get on over to Katie's blog and see how to win!

Oregon

A week or so ago, Anthony and I took a long weekend to drive up to Oregon to visit family and check out the wonderful colors that make up the Fall. Living on the Coast of California most of my life, I never really get to see how beautiful a real Fall is.
We drove up to Crater Lake and stopped and saw this river and waterfall. Driving up the mountain the foliage was everchanging. We kept seeing these trees whose yellow leaves fluttered and danced among the tall trunks of pine.

And when we climbed higher we saw little bits of snow, dusting the trees and rocks. (Sorry, no pictures. Travelin', you know.)

And what did we see when we got to Crater Lake. Not Crater Lake. Snow. And lots of it. Almost knee high. Wheeee!

Pretty, no? I have only been in snow twice, and never this clean and deep. Here is another shot.
Then we went to Jacksonville. Such a lovely town. The area we went was chock full of buildings like this.
I just love, love, love the old advertisement painted on the side. The town was very old west and totally put me in the mood for some drawing, which I've been doing, and doing, and doing.

Busy, Busy

Sorry I've been a bit quiet. I've been working on the Spring line. And then not working, and then working. (You people out there that know me, know what I'm talking about.) I can't tell you what it is, but I can give you a one word hint.

I have found time to take a perfectionist quiz that Julee linked to on her blog, though. Check it out.

You Are 77% Perfectionist

You are a true perfectionist. You are both demanding of yourself and others. While it's great to have goals and standards, they don't need to be sky high!

Are You a Perfectionist?

And for some yummy TCP eyecandy, check out Leigh's blog. Fantastic.
Oh yeah. And the one word hint...."YeeHaw!"

Almost Here!

I'm happy to announce that Poochie Christmas will be arriving via the man in brown on Monday! Yesss! I know that many of you have been waiting patiently for this set and I do appreciated you! I truly do! Once I get the sets I will personally pack each and every order and make sure it gets to the Post Office that day. With any luck you'll be stamping by the end of the week.

Think snow

Here is a card I've been working on this week. I worked on it a bit and then had a good sleep and came back and reworked it a bit.

I'm liking how it came out. I used paper from Die Cuts with a View and Provo Craft. I used Brilliance Graphite Black my old standby, the Marvy Marker and Sakura glaze pen. But the part I like the most is the embossed white stripe. It is the first time I've actually used one of the many Cuttlebug embossing folders. I really like the result. Very clean embossing and super simple.

San Jose Convention

Last weekend we were in San Jose doing our last stamping convention of the year. We revamped the booth a bit. There is still a litte tweaking to be done, but I think it is coming along. Here is what it looked like before the doors opened.
We were lucky to get Tracy Falco, one of TCP's oh so talented design team members and her Mom, Bin demoing for us. They were amazing, as usual. Hi Tracy! Hi Bin!When the doors opened we were SWAMPED! Here is a picture of the booth in the late afternoon. The convention was held in a new venue this year and there were so many happy stampers! I didn't get a chance to shop much, but I did get to meet up with some old friends and make new ones. And isn't that what conventions are all about?

Peek-A-Booooo!

When I saw Julie's mummy creation on her blog, I was in love. And I knew that I had to do something like that for TCP spider and Ghostly Mummy. So here is the outside of the card.
And here is the inside. I just love it. And it wasn't so scary to make—after I figured it all out. I've got the instructions right here, for the October project of the month. Boo!

Kitty Found!

A wise woman once said to me "Now, now, don't give up hope so easily!! My little Hobbes went missing for a little over a week when I lived in Reno and he came home to the Mama, so just keep positive thoughts Alma!! Sending you kitty wishes for your little Mocha to come on home!! :) "

Thank you for all the kitty wishes! They worked! My brother came home tonight and said he heard meowing from the house for sale next door. Sure enough, when I got there she was meowing and crying. I called the telephone number on the for sale sign and soon we found her huddled under the stairs. It took about half an hour and a bunch of treats to get her out.

My guess is that she wandered in while they were preparing for the open house and got locked in. And when all the looky-loos came tramping through she got frightened.

The first thing she did when she got home was dig into her carpet and scent mark the door jamb for about 5 minutes. Yeah! It's good to be home.