Another Quilt Started

January marks the beginning of a new Block of the Month quilt on my yahoo group, and here is my first block.


The pattern is called Next Door Neighbor, and is from Quilter's Cache. I decided to go with a turquoise and chocolate color scheme. I love this combination of colors.

At the end of the year, I will have 12 blocks to make up a quilt. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

P.S. Here is a photo of Audrey and her snow creation called "Snow Mouse".

See What I Did Today!

Here's a little something for my family and friends in California who are horrified by the thought of dealing with snow and ice:

Here is my driveway. I cleared the snow but there is still a half-inch layer of ice that won't come up. About all I can do is lay down salt and hope for the best.


I then took my yardstick out to the front lawn for a measurement. It went down about 4 inches when it hit something hard.




Turns out the hard thing that the stick hit was a solid layer of ice on top of the grass.




I broke through the ice and measured about 3 more inches until I hit the grass.



What a cool thing to wake up to this morning! I'm just hoping that school is not cancelled again tomorrow. The kids are getting restless.

Tropical Beauty

I made a matchbook album to show off some photos that I took while in Florida. It blows my mind when I leave Ohio in the winter and travel to someplace that has tropical plants. Impatiens in December!

Stamps are from Moments in Lace from Clear Artistic Stamps. Thanks to Etha for combining all of my photos for me!

Release Party/Bridal Shower Tonight!

I just received my bridesmaid dress for Sarah's wedding--isn't it gorgeous? The color is called Flutter Azure and I just love it. I will have to let out the seams a little though! (Don't tell anyone, ok?)

The bridal shower is tonight--it's being combined with the release party for the Moments in Lace stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps.

Time: 8pm Central

Location: Chat Room and Forum (2 locations!)

And what would a bridal shower be without games and prizes? There are lots of Fantastic prizes available at tonight's release, especially if you are a Shimmerz fan! If you go to the Cottage Studio you will see one of the games--hint: it has something to do with my bridesmaid dress! At the forum there are also some games that are already up for you to play.

So have fun, and I will see you tonight.

Rumble in the Cottage!

I made this card for the first cottage rumble that you can find here:

Cottage Rumble

The challenge was to use card components in groups of 3. Be sure to click on the link above to see the other cards that were made for the rumble.

Etha's Blog Candy

Here's a chance to win two fantastic stamp sets from Clear Artistic Stamps!

Go to Etha's Blog HERE and leave a comment letting her know if you prefer a forum or a chat room for the next release party.

That's all there is to it!

And check out the great card that she made with the stamps that she is giving away. So clever!

And for those of you who are getting slammed with winter weather--go to your happy place! Here, I will provide one for you:


Happy Tuesday!

So Laugh A Little!

I find the best cartoons at this site: http://www.cagle.com/main.asp

Have a good Monday.

Disney Beauties

I promised more Disney scrapbook pages, and so today I deliver with the one above. The layout is from Splitcoast SBSC172. The papers are Prima-The Harmony Collection, and aren't they gorgeous? The black rub-ons are from The Paper Studio, and I don't know the source of the journaling transparency.

My next page will revolve around how to tell the difference between Chip and Dale--I got the information from the two chipmunks themselves! Stay tuned.

Happy Sunday! Go Eagles!

Save the Date

This is my card for this weeks sketch challenge SC210 from SplitCoast Stampers. I used a new stamp set to be released on January 20th from Clear Artistic Stamps. I just love these papers from Stampin' Up. The colors and designs are so eye-catching and versatile.

On my sidebar I added an new little mood gadget that I first found on Kim's blog. It's so cute that I just had to add one myself.


I took the above photo on Christmas morning--it's looking out my glass door where some steam had frozen into a real cool pattern. My poor dog didn't stay out for very long!

The First WDW Page

I printed out a bunch of pictures from our trip to Walt Disney World last month, and last night sat down to make my first page:


I got some 2008 Disney papers and embellishments at a store in Downtown Disney. I also found a set of clear Disney stamps on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Turns out the quality wasn't too good, and the ink beaded up on the polymer, giving me blotchy images. So I rubbed a pencil eraser over the polymer, which made the images come out much better. I've never had to do that before--I guess I'm just spoiled by the good quality stamps that I normally get from other companies!

Anyway, there are MANY more Disney pages to come.

Have a good Thursday--I hope your Thursday will be warmer than mine!

Moments In Lace Sneak Peek

For this card I used the sketch challenge CPS98 from Card Positioning Systems for my layout. All stamped images are sneak peeks from a new set that is set to be released on January 20th from Clear Artistic Stamps. The new set is called Moments in Lace. I used Stampin' Up cardstock and ink, gelly roll pens and Making Memories brads for a simple red and black wedding card.

The release of these stamps all revolves around a wedding that will take place on February 14th of this year. The couple became engaged on Christmas Day, so it's short notice, but they have a large family to help them pull it all together. Here is the lovely announcement that I received:


Stay tuned to the Cottage Studio blog of all of the most recent news on the wedding plans, as Belinda is close friends with the happy couple.

Sympathy Cards

Unfortunately, I have had reason to make a few sympathy cards in the previous weeks. Here are two that I just finished:

This is one that I made with the Intrigue stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps. I used Splitcoast Stampers sketch SC209:


I made this next card using the Sympathy stamp set from Firecracker Designs:


Nothing fancy about these cards--just stamping and coloring with markers. I find it a challenge to make a card with visual interest without using very many embellishments.

Happy Friday!

She Might Be Looking For You!

Over at Clear Artistic Stamps, Belinda is starting a new program called Designer by Invitation Only. She is looking at blogs to find projects made using stamps from the company. If she likes your work, she might invite you to be a featured designer on the store site for a month. It's really just that easy, so why not give it a try? You can find all of the information HERE.

The first Designer by Invitation Only is Heather Strenzwilk. She made a lovely card that is displayed on the site, along with instructions. See it HERE. Great work Heather!

I wish to all of you a very happy New Year's Day.