Time for Tea - Pet Lovers Rejoice!

Happy Tuesday friends! Are you ready for your weekly dose of inspiration from Time For Tea Designs? I know I am! Don't forget that you can (and should) play along in our monthly challenge, for your chance to win free digis! Everyone loves free digis, am I right? The theme for our challenge is Anything Goes. My favorite! It's so easy to enter - just make something using your Time For Tea Designs images and post them! Share with the hashtag #timeforteadesigns so we can find them, and you're entered to win! Challenges run monthly, and we will have a spotlight and a prize winner at the end of each challenge.

Today's card features these ADORABLE new Pawsome Pets digital stamps that were created for the Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine feature. You can get your set from their website, or buy the full collection here in the Time for Tea Shop. I've paired these cuties with the Pawsome Pets digital paper pack, available in the shop. Don't forget...I have a discount code for you to use - T4TJENNIFER10 will save you 10% on your order from the Time For Tea shop! Yayyyy :)

This card is one of three that I created for consideration/inclusion with the magazine article that launched the stamps. This one was not selection, but the other two were published as a part of the feature they did on Time for Tea! So exciting! Since you may have seen those already if you've seen the magazine, I thought I'd post this one on my blog first so it gets some love!

I colored up these sweet pets using my Copic Markers - I buy all of mine at Scrapbookpal.com for their fast shipping and awesome service. I fussy cut them and arranged this little windowed scene with different paper designs, patterns and colors. Peek a boo square die from Gina Marie Designs, flag tag die from Craftin Desert Divas, border die from Lawn Fawn. Enamel stickers from Doodlebug, embossing folder from Cuttlebug. All papers from the digi paper pack. Various layers are popped up with foam tape - thickness 1/16" up to 3/16".

I'll be sharing my other cards soon, with full supply lists and details. In the meantime - here's a little sneaky peek, in case you haven't seen it!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread - #96: AG (1/3)
Get Creative Challenge - #81: AG (2/3)
Pammie's Inky Pinkies - #1924: AG (1/5)
Path of Positivity - #70: AG (2/7)
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - #108: AG (1/3)

I hope you enjoyed my project today! If you've got a moment, head over to join our FB community, follow us on Instagram, and don't forget to play along with our monthly challenges by tagging #timeforteadesigns - so easy! Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Thursday Happy!

Happy Thursday! Spring Break started here for my kids at noon, so we had a busy afternoon at the park and having a fun early dinner at Culver's (boy's choice hehe). That pushed this post off a bit later than I had planned, but hey, it's still Thursday!

But before my CARD POST tomorrow, I wanted to do a quick fly by with a super fun Thursday announcement (well, it's fun for me!)...I was chosen as one of the new Design Team Members over at Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber Stamps! 

I'm so stoked about this. Before my injury and our move/home remodel ate up the last couple years of my LIFE, I was fortunate enough to be on a number of different Design Teams and Challenge Teams. I LOVED working with the talented artists and the other DT members to show off products and images and generally just have an amazing time stamping and sharing. When I saw the DT call I was hesitant, I had barely stamped in 2 years, but it was one of my goals this year to start working my way back into this wonderous hobby. So in the I applied, and was lucky enough to be picked! Thank you to Lacey and Nicola for this great opportunity! I love the W'nW images - they have super cute animals, kids and fairies...right up my alley! 

Wags 'n Whiskers hosts a bi-weekly challenge, and the new one goes live tomorrow morning! All of the new teamies have created something lovely for your inspiration, so check it out and play along if you'd like! You can win free stamps...

Until the morning - happy stamping to you all!

The Evolution of a Stamp Room - Part 1

Happy Thursday! I can't wait for some nice down time this weekend! Hope everyone is having a good week.

This is a post I've been wanting to write for a week! Ever since my stamping room at this house (finally) came to be, and got unpacked and (mostly) organized, it was beyond time to go "squeeeeeeee" and share it with all of you! All that was holding me back; I've been searching all the digital archives I have here to try to find a couple of TRUE "before" pictures of the overall space so you could really see how far it has come.

Well unfortunately, I can't find any pre-move in, or even just-past-move-in but pre-digging-through-boxes-trying-to-find-a-birthday-card-to-send-or-some-stickers-for-the-kids.  :(  I do have a few in the middle stages, and of course the end, so this has waited long enough, so it's time to just go with what I've got!

Here we have the disaster of half opened boxes, searching for treasures here and there:

What a nightmare!!

So then after some of the other house remodel projects were done, hubs framed out the entertainment/family room (which shares a wall with my new stamping area). Then we had the entire finished portion of the basement exterior spray foam insulated, as well as the rim joists of the WHOLE house. That means we had to move Every.Single.Thing. in the basement away from the wall at least 3 feet....

 

Then we painted the brick that was left unfinished, and hubs did wiring, more wiring, added outlets, lights, drywall, painted, shelving, counters, etc. etc. and we finally got somewhere.

As you can see, it's not quite done in these pictures. The kids' toys were moved into the family room once the carpet was put down, so that's gone. I also unpacked the last of the stamps and boxes. I'm not sure what happened to my final pictures, but if I clean up the papers I dragged out for ACTUAL CARD MAKING the other day, I can take some more where the room is at about 95% complete and organized (rather than the 80%) you see here.  But for tonight, I'm posting. I guess the stamp room evolution discussion will be a 2-part post ;)

Have a great night! Thanks for dropping by!

A Fun Announcement!

Happy Tuesday stamping friends!  Can you believe that it's almost Chirstmastime already??  Who's ready??  (Not here, eek!).  I hope everyone has a great start to this busy week!

I have a very fun announcement this morning!  Well, fun for me!  New year, new design team?  Sure!  I am super excited to share the news that I am joining the Squigglefly Design Team (January - June 2011).  

For those of you that do not know anything about Squigglefly (other than being an online shop that sells digital images for papercrafting, which is of course the most important thing!), here is some great info for you:

• Did you know that Squigglefly is the only company that doesn't let your download links expire?  This is important because if your computer crashes and you lose your images, you can contact Squigglefly with your e mail address and they can send your download links to you so you can retrieve your images!
• Squigglefly also has an rewards program!!  When you sign up for Squigglefly Rewards, it keeps track of your purchases and for every $15.00 you spend you earn a free image!  You can redeem the free image whenever you want.  Sweeeeeeeet....

Be sure to stop by the Squigglefly website and check out all of those cool images by MANY different talented artists!!  They have something here for EVERY taste! 

And to celebrate, I wanted to share a card that I made using some of my new Squigglefly images!  This one is called "Windy Ride".  Could this little bear BE any cuter?!

Simple recipe for this card - I printed the image on PTI white, colored with Copics, cut out with Nestabilities.  The sentiment is from {Little Paper Shop}.  Art Institute glitter on the clouds - ALL clouds should be glittered, don't you think?
;-)


Thanks for stopping by!  I'm super excited to share some of Squigglefly's huge inventory of images with you over the next six months!  Squigglefly Mondays coming in January...stay tuned!


Lastly, be sure to stop back tomorrow for an all-new Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge.  See you then!

Lilac City Designs

Guess what? The fabulously talented Kelli Caslow has taken the plunge to turn her designs into stamps. The new kid in town? Lilac City Designs!

You really have to go check it out! You can click here to go right to the page that has the stamps. Tell me those are not about the cutest kid images you've ever seen! There's a lot of info on the website so be sure to surf around and take in all the sights.

In fact, make extra sure you click to Meet the Inspiration Team. *wink* Yes, I am joining Kelli and Angie on the first-every Inspiration Team for Lilac City Designs. Kelli put stamps in the mail for us on Monday so look for some new goodies coming soon! I've added Kelli's and Angie's blogs to my left side bar - give them some love when you get a chance.

That's all for now, I am still in the middle of this sickness, although hopefully on the upward swing, so I need my health & beauty rest. ;-) I will have a project to share with you tomorrow, I promise!

Sick Again...

And the timing could not be worse. I don't know what is wrong with me but I have a bad suspicion that it may be mono. I had a strep test that was negative but my throat is SO sore and gross - and it's not getting better. This is what has happened in the past when I had mono - and every time it's a big arguement with the doctors who either just think I'm a wuss or a dumb girl or who knows what. Last time, I had 3 negative strep tests and actually went on antibiotics (for strep) before they concluded that I had mono. I'll take it easy, I'll drink fluids, I'll do whatever. But I first need this pain to scale back a little because I can barely breathe. I know the doctor yesterday thought I was being dramatic. She gave me an oral lidocane rinse to help with the pain. Guess what? It doesn't help. Neither does anything else I've tried.

So anyway, that's why I didn't post any projects yesterday and such. I think I have a Friday Favorites scheduled to go tomorrow, but after that I'll be lying pretty low for a bit until I can somehow start feeling better. Please don't abandon me! I love you all, every one of your comments brightens my day. I have lots more stuff already made to share with you, including THREE new tutorials, and another big announcement. Just give me a little time. Plus, assuming I don't die between now and then, we close on our house tomorrow! So that's exciting.

House Update!!

Well, here is the news from around here - we had an accepted offer on our house on May 5th, and now know that all the contingencies are good so we are closing on May 27th and then renting back until July. We found a new place and have an accepted offer there so we just need to do the home inspection and get locked at a good interest rate and we'll be in good shape! Then all we have to do is MOVE....aaaccckkkk!

Luckily we have some time so keep your fingers crossed for us that all goes smoothly. The whole house/moving thing has been the biggest reason I've been such a bad stamper and blogger lately so hopefully that's past! Now I just have to get rid of this cold! We have all the excitement around here, huh?

I'll be posting last week's favorites in a bit too -- better late than never. :-) Here's a pic of the new place:

Update on "Life"

So I've alluded to things being busy around here in several prior posts, we are trying to sell our house to get something a bit bigger and a bit newer - and I can't even BELIEVE how much cleaning and picking up has to be done around here just so people can see the place. I guess that's what happens with 2 kids and a cat {plus us}. DH likes to look around after a big cleaning and declare that "this is how the house should always look!".

{gag, gasp, ack, snort} Excuse me? Um, we *LIVE* here - all day, every day - with two kids! Stuffing all the toys into the furnace room or putting them into the vehicles because they're so bulky, clearing everything off every horizontal surface and hiding it anywhere we can {I still can't find my slippers or the handiwipes that were in the kitchen} is simply not an acceptable daily practice. I think somewhere in his mind, he does understand this, because when asked "and what color is the sky in your world" he will invariably answer "red". But he just loves to bust my balls {figuratively speaking of course}.

Anyway, this is the reason I've been such a bad blogger and haven't gotten up some of the posts I've been promising. I haven't even stamped in 10 days. It's awful. But there is now a list and I am working at it in my spare time and I also hope to stamp tonight. All those things I've been saying are coming down the pike are still coming and hopefully soon. Just keep checking back and bear with me - I hope to be back on track by the end of this weekend.

Blog Candy Winner!!

Happy Saturday morning!

Thanks to everyone who entered my blog candy for 10,000 hits! I am overwhelmed by all the good wishes and feedback on my blog. You are all fabulous. Thank you for visiting me and especially for those that take the time to comment on projects. It just means so much to me!

Ok, ok, I am done, Hallmark moment over. :-) The BIG WINNER of the day is....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:64

Timestamp: 2008-04-12 15:56:13 UTC

That comment is by Sara in WI. Congratulations Sara! Please e-mail me your contact information {Blogger did not have anything listed for you} so I can get this in the mail!

Check back soon too because I received some PIF candy from Chris {mudmaven} so I have more stuff to give away -- probably Monday {I am aiming for Monday, anyway}. I also have several more projects here just waiting for their 15 minutes of fame, plus a couple of cards from my SBS13 sisters, some awards, and at least one tutorial to post. It's going to be busy around here!

Guest Stamper Tuesday!

I just wanted to swing by quickly and let you know I'm still here. I've been busy stamping and I have some stuff I can't show you until tomorrow (even though I stamped it yesterday and today). You'll see! Anyway, in lieu of something new from me, I have a card to share with you that was made awhile back by my BFF Heather over at Ink On My Ear.

I LOVE this card, I think it's about the cutest Fluffles card I've ever seen. Seriously! The photo doesn't do it justice for the beautiful colors & sparkle, but it's all I've got. I really wanted to share it with you - it just makes me smile. I think the layout is fabulous and the spring colors are MUCH NEEDED around here! It's snowing again right now, if you can believe that. Enjoy Fluffle and check back tomorrow for some more new stuff! I have some tutorials coming up too just as soon as I can get them done. (Promises, promises, right? They are in the works, belive me!).

Repeat after me Jennifer....one thing at a time....

So much to share

Just popping on really fast with an update. What a busy weekend! Both with family stuff and more importantly STAMPING! I have a ton of project photos on the camera just waiting to get downloaded and posted. Check back tomorrow for those! I will also have at least one photo tutorial this week, maybe two, and more DT cards. Woo hoo!

Hit It! It's Blog Candy Time!

***Please note: I changed the date of this post to keep it at the top of my blog until the drawing. So until after the drawing (you have until Feb. 2nd to enter), please scroll DOWN below this post to see all the latest stuff!***

Well aaaalllllll right!! I promised blog candy when my little corner of the Netiverse reached 2,500 hits -- which it did on January 20th! What a fun feeling that was. :-) So I got some fun goodies together (finally) and I can't wait to give them away! Check it out:


What do you think? The lucky winner will receive a package of self-adhesive rhinestones (I use these ALL the time!), a package of garden/spring-themed buttons, a small tin with Prima Flowers, a Brocade Blue stampin' spot, a wood-mounted "girlfriends" stamp, an EZ-mount stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms that says "precious", a brand new black Prismacolor alcohol marker, 5 yards of white and green striped ribbon, 3/8" and 5 yards of plum and pink two-tone grosgrain ribbon, 3/8" wide. I thought that these were pretty spring-ish items, and we could definitely use some "spring" feelings around here, it is snowing AGAIN!!!

So, all you have to do to be entered to win this spring bling is leave me a comment on this post and tell me what papercrafting tutorial you would most like to see me write up and post here on my blog. This will be a step-by-step tutorial with photographs. I will keep this contest open until Saturday, February 2nd at midnight, and have my DS #1 draw a name on Sunday morning.

Next blog candy at 5,000 hits (sooner if I come up with a good "just because" contest idea)!

Musings on Design Teams

So, I have been asked some questions lately about design teams - the two biggies are where does one hear about open design team calls for papercrafting, and how do you get onto the team?

Well, I kinda feel like I am not really qualified to try to answer this question - there are so many uber-talented ladies out there with high-traffic blogs, who are published *regularly* (I have not even tried submitting yet!), AND on like 50 DT's at a time, LOL! But I will give it my best shot and let you know what worked for me in my successes (and failures, I applied for probably 7 other calls that I was not chosen for, plus I let a lot of calls go without applying due to lack of time or not seeing the right "fit" for my style).

There are several ways to hear about calls for DTs/magazine submissions/etc. One is Splitcoast Stampers! Keep an eye on the Announcements forum and you'll see people post design team calls once in awhile. Another, and probably your best bet overall, is the PubCalls Blog. They post several times a week with various calls for design teams from stamp and scrapbook companies, online and fixed location retail stores, and magazines too. I think they seem to be more geared toward scrapbooking but still, it's a fabulous resource. Lastly, you can go right to the source! Frequent the websites of some of these awesome independent stamp companies. It's a great way to learn not only about calls for submissions and DT calls, but also sales, new products, special events and new gallery postings for inspiration! That's how I came across the Prickley Pear call - I was shopping on their site! Plus, if you don't mind getting e-mails, sign up for the newsletters at these companies. You'll get lots of benefits there - insider info on company news, sales, products, etc. There may be other ways, but that is what I have been doing.

As far as how to get selected, this is tough to give specifics. Really, I don't even know, LOL! A few things that certainly can't hurt - check out the style of the company and see if you will be a good fit for their products and that you will have FUN working on their team. As I said earlier, I have applied for other calls in the past 6 months and not gotten in, but I have also specifically *not* applied for calls if I didn't feel I would really enjoy working with the images/products for that company with my personal stamping "style", or if I felt that I would not do them justice. Another thing is to really look at the DT requirements. They are all different. Do you have the time to devote to making projects and other duties each month? Will you be able to and happy with creating projects using only that company's products?

If you think it'll be a good opportunity for you to be on that company's team, go for it! Create and submit your best work - no blurry or mis-stamped images, nice straight layers, neat coloring, etc. Some companies require you to use their stamps in your application, some don't, so pay attention to that. Don't get discouraged. The companies are often judging hundreds of applicants trying to find a good variety of styles to showcase their stamps and other products. Keep trying if you don't get selected right away!

That's really all there is to it - it's a lot of luck I think! I worked hard on my projects and I truly hoped I would make it onto these teams; but I was still absolutely and completely shocked when I did! There are so many amazing companies and stamp designers out there, I'm sure you'll all find a great fit for yourself if design teams are something you're interested in. I hope this is of some help - best of luck!

Yes, I am still here...

Sorry for the long absence - it has been a little busy here with our new little man making his way into the world! Yes, I'm sure many of you already know by our darling son #2 has finally arrived! His name is Cade. After all that work to stop the contractions we went all the way to 38 and 4/7 weeks! Of course things had to be on his terms so he was born the day before my scheduled c-section {my water broke and away we went}.

Anyway, we are all finally getting settled back in after all the excitement - emergency c-section, ensuing spinal headache, total lack of anything resembling sleep (those are all me); and being adorable and sweet and gaining lots of weight so the doctor doesn't need to see him until he is a month old - yay!!! (those are all Cade).

I'll be working to get my blog updated and back on track. Bear with me, I have at least 6 or 7 projects to post plus some "guest designer" cards to share. It'll be worth the wait!

Yes, I'm Alive...

....and still pregnant too, which is good! We are at 35 weeks today and it's been 5 days since I last had contractions (that I know of anyway). So I am to stay on the medications and bedrest through November 1st, but after that the doctors are saying that I'll be able to resume normal activity until the baby comes. Once I hit that "magic number" they won't do anything to stop the labor so baby will be able to come at any time. Of course she warned me I may still go full term, sometimes they "work so hard to stop labor, then have trouble getting it started again". NOT interested in that, let me tell ya! I covered baby's ears while we had that conversation. :)

We will see what happens, I think that we will be taking things day by day - several times when I was "off" the meds (i.e. middle of the night) the contractions started themselves up again, so it's just impossible to guess what'll happen once the pills stop. I just hate that too - lots of uncertainty but at least my mom is here and all of my fabulous neighbors and friends who helped out that first time, have offered to take DS #1 if we need a break or need a fast run to the hospital, AND have been bringing us meals a few times a week to help lighten the load around here. It's just overwhelming, I love you all!

That's the news from here. No new projects to post, sadly, but hopefully soon. I've been working on baby announcements from my bed here, and also a cute little kid's game I think you'll all love. Plus I have my October cards for FireCracker Designs to do (yes, they are WAY late but Pamela is wonderfully understanding), and I'll be doing the November cards ASAP when the set arrives so we don't have this lateness problem again. As things get finished I'll get them uploaded so you can check everything out.

Another update

Well, we are home and still pregnant! So that is good news. :) Thanks to everyone who sent notes and good wishes. They go so far in lifiting my spirits.

I have had the steroid shots and am on meds to control the contractions. Full bed rest too, which is not as much fun as it sounds like it SHOULD be. But thankfully my mom was able to drop everything and come to our rescue (again, as usual, etc. etc.) so we are doing fine. Doctor visit on Tuesday so we'll see what is new then.

DS#2 and Me - Update

For those who don't know, I was admitted to the hospital on Monday with per-term labor. We are now 32 weeks and 6 days today, so very early still. I have had the 2 doses of steroid shots they give to develop the lungs and we are in a waiting game. So I have some limited email now thanks to a dialup laptop the hospital gave me and if/when I know more I will keep people posted. But if you've been looking to reach me and can't, that'd be why. Please keep good thoughts for us!