EXCITING News!!!!

ood thing I only found out a day in advance......it's hard keeping this stuff a secret, especially when you are so excited! I was chosen as one of the new designers for Pink Cat Studio's new Digi Team. I'm thrilled to be chosen and can't wait to work with all of the new digi images. Go check out the new store so you can see all of the new images.

Here's a little notebook I made for Ava girl's dance pictures. I used Itty Bitty Betty Flower Hug. Isn't it cute! It was fun, easy, and quick to throw together.

Then.....Melissa from PCS made my day by taking a suggestion I had for a digi image and I created my new little baby's announcement. Isn't this little Sweet Pea Cow Poke image adorable! I cheated on that card because I colored it on the computer so I could mass produce it easier. That is what is so fun about digi images. You can make them smaller or bigger, color them, add text, the possibilities are endless. You can also use them very easily on digital scrapbooking pages. I just got started with that.

Hope you enjoy what I've created! Be sure to stop by the other gals sites too. Click on these new digital images to see the entire list of digi images you can purchase!

Here's the new Pink Cat Studio Design Team links:

Emily Leiphart - http://www.leiphartonart.blogspot.com/

Inge Groot - http://www.patternedpaper.typepad.com/

Kerry Donovan-Casey - http://threecloversdesigns.blogspot.com/
Kristen Catalano - http://www.scrap-creations1.blogspot.com/
MacKenzie Bruckler - http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Maria Bell - http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/

Suzanne J Dean - http://www.scrapbitz.blogspot.com/

Tracey Cuccia - http://www.tmcuccia.blogspot.com/

Tori Hemmingway - http://scrappinangler.blogspot.com/

Vicki Garrett - http://www.summerthymestudio.blogspot.com/

Pink Cat Studio
Shop - http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/

BLOG - http://pinkcatstudio.blogspot.com/

The Next Food Network Star!

Ava and I made homemade pizza last night. I thought we had pepporoni, but I was wrong so she had to settle for ham and red peppers.....what kids like red peppers? Both of mine like them. I can remember both of them sitting at the island asking for me to cut them up green or red peppers so they could eat them while I fixed supper!

Step 1: Spreading the sauce

Step 2: Adding the Cheese

Step 3: Sampling the Cheese!

Step 4: Eating the toppings!

Step 5: Ready for the oven Mommy!

A Cowboy Thank You! (and more digi stamps!)

I'm up.....been up since about 3:00.....so I decided to color on some of my digi stamps. Did you hear that Pink Cat Studio now has a line of digi stamps. Check them out....she even added the cowboy images that she designed for Ethan's fundraiser for Make-A-Wish. They are very easy to work with and you can print multiples. I just used Word to adjust the size on mine, but there are tons of programs that you can use.

I used some of my new copics from PTI. I love how they come in a 3 pack so it makes the shading very simple. My background favorite is an EK Success Paisley print that I wish I had more of......so if any of you have a source for this paper, let me know! The blue I used is Enchanted Evening from PTI.....isn't it so pretty.

Some family and friends threw a surprise shower for me the other day and I need to make thank yous....I might be crazy for coloring on them, but hey, what else do you do in the wee hours of the morning when you can't sleep!

I'm hoping to try out a couple of the new digi images tonight. Maybe I'll be back tomorrow with a sample or 2 to share. Ava girl likes to color too so I can get her in on it too! Have a good Tuesday!

Thought I would have went to bed, but decided to stay up and try out some more of my new digi images. Love how they turned out and now I have some Happy Halloween cards to send! I'm submitting these for the Pink Cat Studio Digi Image Design Team Call.....Thanks Kristen for letting me know about this! Okay.....now I'm off to get a shower and get ready for work.....it might be a long day for me!

Great Fall Day!

Yesterday was a great fall day here in Illinois. We got to take a walk to the winery, on our minature burro, Ranger. It was fun and the weather was just perfect. We even got to go out with some friends tonight to a wine fest and out to an Italian supper at a local hotspot. I captured some cute shots of Ava girl that I thought I would share. I didn't get any stamping accomplished so my template will have to wait for another day....that's okay, we had fun hanging out today as a family and that is what life is all about!

I was talking to a friend today about how much Ava likes to write her letters and loves to write people's names. I had begun to teach Ethan his letters and he was catching on and writing, but wasn't as into it as Ava seems to be at a much younger age. Now Ethan was very into numbers and could add things in his head at a very young age. I was just talking about this today and on the way home from picking up Ava tonight we were naming off her aunts and uncles and she named all of her uncles and then said.....I have 5 of them right? I was amazed....it's exactly how Ethan used to do things. He would just say something and then could add things up immediately in his head. I just thought it was really cool that she is doing this now and even more cool that Ethan used to do this too.

On to my pictures from today. Ranger is just the best little pet anyone could ever have. He's gearing up for his 2nd debut in our local high school homecoming parade next week. Lilly Rose is in the pics too. She even went for the ride to the winery because she was following us and I was afraid she was going to get hit.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Hopefully I'll get my my template challenge, but I'm not promising anything as I need to get laundry finished and have several more things on my "to do" list for Kale's room. We went to church today and then I spent part of the day with my Mom and Grandma working on Kale's diaper bag....it's going to be so cute. I have some stamping stuff to finish in his room too, so I'll definitely be stamping soon.....just haven't gotten to it this weekend. I had a long week last week as I worked my usual Mon/Tues, but on Thursday we had to leave at 4:30 in the morning to get to a conference in St. Louis. It made for a "very" short night Wed and I was so tired by the time Friday rolled around. We then canned applesauce and apple butter Friday afternoon and had friends over Friday night.....nothing like trying to pack too much into a weekend! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'll be back soon to share pics of Kale's baby room, the diaper bag, and I think it's about time I took pictures of Ava's room too!

My time to COLOR Challenge and my Ava Girl

Well.....I do have my challenge done, except my pictures of my scrapbook pages aren't turning out the best. I'll add them, but I love these pages so much better in person. I just haven't figured out a good way to get a picture of my pages without glare on the pictures and getting the detail of the pages.....plus I've been up AGAIN since 4:30 or so, so I'm a little on the tired side. Here is the inspiration piece we had to work with. I cheated or I guess just left out a color because it just wasn't going to work with what I was creating. These are some of my favorite pictures of my kids from last fall.

These were taken in late October last year on a gorgeous fall day. We took a horse ride to the winery and hung out while the kids played. They had a ball.

Here are some pics of Ava girl and our friends little kitty, Buster. He is the absolute cutest kitty ever! Ava just loves him and he is so cuddly.

Hope you enjoy this fall day!

My Time to Create Inspiration Challenge

I love this color combo! I almost made a baby card and then decided to make a card with butterflies. I tried to create an embossed background with my inspiration being the brown pillow on the bed. I ended up without any flowers. Hope you enjoy. I'm adding this quickly as I need to get to bed. There is a golf tournament in the morning and the proceeds are going towards Neuroblastoma Research in Ethan's honor. I'm not golfing (not sure if I could get a club past my belly), but I will be there to cheer everyone else on! Hope everyone has a great weekend. I've been pretty busy this week so no creations to share from me! We did start making Kale's diaper bag yesterday so I'm anxious to have that finished up!

Be sure to check out all of the other creations from the Design Team!

LaurenAliciaDanaJenKristenMacKenzieOdetteTamaraTraceyPam

And....last, but definitely not least.....here is my Ava girl!

My Time to Sketch Challenge....#35

It's time for Lauren's Sketch Challenge! This week I kind of veered off course....but stuck with some of the layout. I encourage others to do this too....not to "not follow the rules", but use your creativity and get a little inspiration and go with it. I bought a shirt at Gymboree for my little Ava girl the other day and I loved it and thought it would make the perfect card. This is what I came up with. Instead of rectangles I have layered circles.....it's pretty close!!

This post is pretty late....long story, but I didn't get to bed until almost 2:00....that's another story for another day though. Today I did want to mention my disappointment in a very large and reputable stamp company that I have worked for for over 6 years now.....Stampin' Up! They came out with a news "flash" or should I say a requirement of all demonstrators to sign a new agreement that basically in my view takes away our right to free speech. They want us to sign their new agreement stating that we basically have to be exclusive to SU and that we can't use other products and promote them via links to other blogs or companies nor tell about our product via our own blogs, e-mail, twitter, facebook, etc! We also couldn't be on any design teams....i.e. Lauren's My Time Challenges....! Isn't this crazy! To me they are walking on territory that they never should have. I have my own blog, sponsored by Google.....didn't know that they were any way affiliated with Stampin' UP!, but I guess I was wrong. I can't even post here on my own blog about other products because that would steer others toward the competition.

Can you tell I'm a little miffed by their decision?? It's like saying you can only put your kids in Carter's clothing and you can't mix and match because that is just "wrong" or working at Wal-Mart and telling you that you can't shop at Target because that is supporting the competition. I had the upline of my upline and on up send out an e-mail stating that she totally understands where they are coming from and when she hears of her customers going to places like Archivers, she just cringes. I guess some of us live in this shallow little place thinking that SU is the only company out there, but in fact there are a ton of great designers and other companies that offer a great product and I like to dabble in all of them. So as for me, I will be a SU demo until the end of the month and then I'm tossing in the towel. I don't wish anyone to have a bad business, but I hope that the results from this decission effect them in a way that they can understand that they are very wrong on this account and steered off in a very bad direction.

ENOUGH about that. Most of you probably didn't even know that I sold SU......so that is what makes this even more crazy!! Today is Saturday and it looks like it is going to be a nice day outside. I have a gift to make for a friend of mine's little girl tomorrow so I'll need to get busy on that soon. I've been washing baby clothes for our little Kale....so I'm getting ready for his arrival a little at a time. Hope all of you have a great day and be sure to go get some more inspiration from the other gals too!

Lauren Alicia Dana Jen Kendra Kristen Lisa MacKenzie Maria Odette Tamara Tracey Pam

Needing Sleep!

Yes.....it's 4:20 in the am and I'm awake.....been up since 2:00! I've tried getting up an eating something because my stomach was upset, tried watching some tv and Ava woke up, went back to bed and just layed there.....I still have over 2 months to go too! I've been sleeping pretty good lately, so I shouldn't complain. Any advice from any moms that have been uncomfortable during your pregnancies too??

Ava and I had a good time on our trip to Michigan. Here are a few pictures to share of Ava on the beach. It literally rained nearly the entire time we were there. We did finally sneak about an hour on the beach on Friday afternoon. Ava had a ball playing with her sand toys and running to and from the waves.

We got to eat at a very good place for lunch on Thursday that served homemade crepes. I had a crepe with spinach, eggs, and goat cheese. It was so good. They served them with a salad that was equally as good. Ava got to have some ham and scrambled eggs so she was a happy camper too. Then there was this Swedish bakery just down the road from the cottage and oh my.....everything was just delicious from there. We ate from there twice and I brought home some extras too!

I haven't been home to stamp....I need to. I'm working today, but then will hopefully have time this week to get a few things done. I did make a frame for a friend of mine's daughter who is turning 6. I didn't stamp anything on it.....and I don't even have a picture of it to share....I'll have to get one this weekend at her birthday party! Hope all of you are still getting some zzzzz's. I'm going to head to the couch and attempt to get at least an hour more of sleep before morning!!!