Neon Cats

The other day, I had a long conversation with Maddie about her choices.

Do you do this? Have earnest chats with your pets? She talks back to me, so I'm sure this is 100% normal.

It's funny how different they are. Maddie is the only furniture scratching cat I've ever owned. Splotchy is a little angel who never scratches anything but their designated scratcher. Splotch loves to eat and is bone skinny, Maddie isn't much of an eater, but is a little chunky. Splotchy is a gymnast, and Maddie is clumsy as heck.

But they're both amazing little therapists. What's great about pets is they teach you the importance of the everyday experience. Cats don't care about politics, or news or bills. They are well equipped to make the most of every moment - soaking up the sun, purring when they get patted - Splotch purrs during play, which I've never seen before, and I've had a lot of cats.

Just seeing them lowers my blood pressure.

Since I have a black cat, some of my favorite stamp images are silhouettes, because to me, they all look like Maddie.

But I thought today I'd stamp them in something other than black, just for fun. I still had my Electro Pop Inks on my desk from Wednesday's post, so I thought some neon kitties might be in order. This artist exactly captured cat body language in these stamp images.  I stamped them in Hello Yellow, Poppin' Pink and Orange Glow, and stamped the sentiment in Nocturne, and added a few sequins.

But I couldn't sit down to stamp without watercoloring, so I had to paint this sweet image. You can find details on this card over at the My Sweet Petunia blog today. The sentiment is from this sentiment-only set. I just think this image is so sweet. Hop over here to see what I did.

Kitty Love Clear Stamp Set - Sweet 'n... [ SWT ] Creative Worship: The Shepherd's... [ SWT ] Sentimental Wordfetti Clear Stamp Set... [ SWT ] Electro Pop Ink Pads- Set of 8 - Gina... [ GNK ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05... [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ]

I'm part of a collaboration blog hop today with my sweet friend Korin, the owner of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and My Sweet Petunia!

Here are all the designers participating in the hop - stop by and comment at each blog, and you'll be entered to win $50 gift certificates from each company. The winner will be announced on the My Sweet Petunia blog on August 27th. 

SNSS Blog
Colleen Gaddie
Diane Zechman
Gayle Bond
Jane Bosi
Jennifer Powell
Julee Tilman
Julie Cassell
Lyn Tomlin
Sheri Gilson
Kia Gibson-Clapper
Stephanie Severin
Ilina Crouse
Giovana Smith
Jeanne Streiff
Ceal Pritchett
My Sweet Petunia
Lydia Fiedler

Loveyameantibye.

You're The Bee's Knees!

You may have heard about Small Business Saturday in between your pie and your Cyber Monday.

This past Saturday was a day where you were encouraged to shop at the very heart of American business - the sole proprietors, the mom and pop shops - the people who took big risks to try to to make it on their own instead of slaving away in a cubicle.

I'm lucky enough to call one such small business owner a good friend - Korin Sutherland.

I never get tired of the stories of people who started a business literally in their living rooms. Korin did just that when she started Sweet 'n Sassy stamps five years ago and she's been a huge success.

As much time as I spend BUYING and PLAYING with stamps, I honestly don't know how she has the energy to DESIGN and MAKE stamps, but she does, and I'm so thankful that because she does, I have a sweet friend.

Korin and I met through Splitcoast, when she became a member company, and I just love her to death. She is sweet, and she is sassy :), so her marketing skills are obviously on point!

Anyway, today we're having a little birthday party for Korin and Sweet 'n Sassy, so I really hope you'll hop around and see all the cards her friends have designed for her birthday party. Here's mine, for a girl I think really is the bee's knees.

Stamps: Bee Happy Rhubarb 

Paper: Crumb Cake, Polka Dot Party, Chevron treat bag

Accessories: Sizzix Westminster Hexagon Dies (2")

So happy birthday, friend! Thank you for making the world sweeter and sassier! Y'all hop along now!

Messy workspace? The Secret to Life, the Universe and Everything...

So here's how I realized this.

And I'm not just rationalizing. Seriously.

I woke up at about 4:45 to a pack of coyotes yipping down the street. It's such a cute sound.

What follows is not.

One millisecond later, Splotchy, who thinks he's a coyote, and who was sound asleep, shoots off me and heads for the window to yip back. He sounds JUST like them. It's so ridiculous that it's funny and I laugh despite not being quite awake. It wasn't much weirder than sleep anyway - I had had a dream that Arnold Schwarzenegger and I were working on a project where people would rent beds in malls and sleep out in the open areas, and it started raining inside while we were planning which threw a wrench in all of it.

But after Splotchy started yipping, ALL the dogs in the neighborhood started howling together. Dogs and coyotes do not like each other. Yip, yip, howl. Yip, yip, howl. Time to get up.

I started working and after about five hours, having forgotten coffee altogether (mistake) I took an art break. My desk is a disaster. I just don't have time to be organized right now. So I did what I always do. I pushed everything away to clear a spot JUST big enough for a tiny piece of watercolor paper and I started to paint. I'm slow, so halfway through, when I was just starting to relax and have fun I realized that my mess was exactly the reason stampers and artists are my favorite people.

We can make a tiny bright spot in ANYTHING.

That's what you do when you push back all the clutter to make a tiny space to make something prety in. You just make your own little bright spot.

Optimism in its purest form.

Strangely enough, a very good metaphorical match for the image I was coloring.  I love it when the universe lines up.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Treasured Ink: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun  

Paper: Watercolor paper, First Edition DSP, Going Grey  

Accessories: Want2Scrap bling, Viarco Water Soluble Graphite, Aquapainter, White Gel Pen, Black Marker

Viarco ArtGraf Graphite [ BLIC ] ArtGraf Viarco Pigmented Tailor Chalk... [ BLIC ] ArtGraf Viarco Pigmented Tailor Chalk... [ BLIC ] ArtGraf Viarco Pigmented Tailor Chalk... [ BLIC ]

The monarchs are recovering here from last year's drought and it's good to see them again. They are our state insect, and I love them.

They make a little bright spot.

Don't fret the mess. Do something with the space you cleared. :)

Loveyameanitbye.

Surprise!! You and I are Going to Paris!

How would you surprise a good friend for her birthday if you could do whatever you wanted? And I mean WHATEVER. No limits.

I would buy plane tickets on this sweet, springy day and I would whisk my surprised friend off to Paris.

Once there, we would storm the cafes and the Eiffel Tower in our exuberant style, talking louder than the Europeans, as is our American custom, and giggling hysterically.

We would stick our little fingers out while we drank our coffee and wear striped shirts and berets, and sleep late and stay up even later.

We'd get all teary and verklempt at Notre Dame and the Louvre and take crazy pictures of ourselves pinching landmarks between our thumb and forefinger and re-enacting cheesy mime scenes.

If I could do that, that's what I'd do for my sweet friend Korin, whose birthday is tomorrow.

But since, as of this writing, I have not won the $600 million lottery, I'm not able to do that for her. Maybe someday. :)

So instead, I'm taking part in a little surprise blog hop for her.

But I did want her to have at least PART of my imaginary Paris experience, so I used her pretty Paris stamp to make her birthday card.

The card base is Very Vanilla, and I stamped the image in Basic Black. Then I masked off the image with some super high tech (not) painter's tape and sponged Summer Sun and Soft Suede in the background. I stamped the image again on Poppy Parade, and cut out the roses. I used my Moonlight Smooch to highlight the image and added Crystal Effects to both the Eiffel Tower and the Par Avion tag, and you can see below. 

The bling is from Want2Scrap and I used Airmail Divine Twine to complete the theme, with a Trinket Key.

In my mind it's the key to her glamorous hotel room right smack in the middle of Paris.

Maybe by the time you read this, Korin, I will have won the lottery and called you with your ticket info. :) Maybe we're already baguetting it up, girlie.

If not, I'll settle for a phone call and your hilarious posts on Facebook. I'm so happy you are my friend, and I hope you have a happy birthday!

If you want to see more amazing birthday tributes, please hop along this list and celebrate a great lady. You might find a surprise or two along the way :).

LoveyaKorinmeanitbye.

Hop along now...

Taylor Usry 

Beate Johns

Bridget Finlay

Holly McMillen

>>>>> Lydia Fiedler <<<<<

Chrissy Dickinson

Dina Kowal

Leslie Hanna

Lisa Hjulberg

Kim Schofield

Jessica Fick

Julie Ranae

Monika Davis

Jessica Diedrich

Cathy McCauley

Makiko Jones

Kim Singdahlsen

Mary Faus

Deb Felts

Lori Craig

Giovana Smith

Kim O'Connell

Wendy Jordan

Julie Smith

Michele Single

Jeanne Streiff

Lee Murphy

Like Peas and Carrots

I'm always making fun of all the Y chromosome types in my life for incessantly memorizing and reciting every single line from every single movie they've ever seen.

It's maddening. You'll be going along having a normal conversation, and suddenly, someone will say something a little odd, a little too enthusiastically, in their "I'm quoting a movie now" voice.

Then they smirk at each other and the assembled crowd. Unless it's one of six movies, I don't know the movie, I don't care what movie it is, and odds are I either fell asleep, started stamping or playing Angry Birds about ten minutes into said movie. I certainly have not memorized any dialogue. And I don't feel like less of a human because I don't recognize a line from Hot Tub Time Machine or the Goonies.

However, this ability comes with the chromosome, so they can't help it. We have to just empathize with their struggle with their genetic disorders.

There are only six movies worth quoting. Actually, if you can't quote these movies, there might be something wrong with your chromosomes!

They are, in no particular order:

• Gone With The Wind
• The Cowboys
• Die Hard
• Christmas Vacation
• Elf
• Forrest Gump

Of these, Forrest Gump is one of the most fun, because it comes with a VOICE. There's no one who can't do this voice.

My two favorite lines from the movie are: "Sometimes, I guess, there just aren't enough rocks." That one always knocks the wind out of me.

The other is "Me and Jenn-ay goes together like peas and carrots."


I don't know where that saying came from, but despite the fact that no one really likes peas, carrots or peas and carrots, it stands tall as one of the most charming phrases on EARTH.

Things like peas and carrots find their spiritual home on stamps I think! Suddenly, they are as sweet as they sound....

I rustled up some peas and carrots for the Sweet 'n Sassy blog hop going on today!

 They were kind enough to let me play along with the big girls today - their Design Divas, and so I whipped up a yummy treat.

Stamps: You & Me Ink: Memento Paper: Bazzill, SU Crumb Cake  
Accessories: SU Ribbon, ShinHan Touch Twin Markers: GY48, GY47, YR23, YR24, Fancy Favor Die, Tasteful Trim Die

I used the adorable You & Me stamp set for a little treat bag I cut with the Fancy Favor die and Crumb Cake cardstock. I stamped the veggies on a Crumb Cake tag, and then stamped them again on white, colored and paper pieced it. Before I stamped, I actually cut the greeting off the stamp so I could use it anywhere or stamp just the images by themselves.

This little bag is perfect for treats you tie in a bag, like, say... CHOCOLATE CARROTS! For "peas" I used green (mint) Hershey Kisses.

I used the Tasteful Trim die to dress up the side

Now look at those cuties and try to tell me you don't love peas and carrots!!! I double dog dare you.

Ready to hop along and see some other goodies?

Take a look at the rest of the Design Divas fun creations for some serious wow-age.

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Taylor Usry
Bridget Finlay

Monika Davis

Jessica Fick

Dina Kowal

Giovana Smith

Kim Schofield

Amber Hillman

Kim Singdahlsen

Holly McMillen

Mary Faus

Cathy McCauley
Lydia Fiedler << You are here :)

Korin Sutherland

Thanks for coming by! Feel free to leave your favorite movie quote in the comments!

Loveyameanitbye.