Pincushions are really cute

It has been a very slow sew week but sitting at a sewing machine is kind of resting...right ;o)

I am doing my first ever sewn item swap and I am MORE than a little nervous. I want to make sure that my swap partner is happy, hopefully MORE than happy with what I have sewn for her.

I made two different cushions { I may be making more, these are fun to make} and I am in love with them both. I need to choose which one will stay with me and a few more special treats for my secret swap partner.

Shrooms...

and Ice Cream please :o)

Looking forward to finishing up some other WIPs and starting some new!!!!! Do you have sewing plans for the weekend?

Linked up to

Finish It Up Friday

and

Sew and Tell Friday

Coral and Ruby Greenhouse Flowers

This is my second post today -

it's just a short scroll down for the 

Sweet 'n Sassy blog hop!

Two challenges/inspirations came together that caused me to pull out this Stampin' Up set - Greenhouse Garden.  First, I saw Ann's card - such a lovely one layer card.  Then the clean&simple sketch challenge perfectly fit the idea of three flowers! I went for one of my favorite color combo - sadly, now retired...

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Greenhouse Garden, Papertrey Flower Fusion 6 (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Ruby Red dsp (retired)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Cameo Coral and Ruby Red (both retired)
• Accessories: Spica black glitter pen (dotted on the centers), misc gingam

It's Here! It's Blog Hop Day!!

Welcome to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps February New Release Blog Hop!  This month's release is so exciting  - it was even released a week early as a surprise! Get your warm beverage and tasty snack, and get ready for some amazing inspiration from the Design Divas!

I love this hop because I am surrounded by incredibly talented cardmakers and I love seeing what they have done (and I have the same stamps so I can CASE them all!!)

You probably came from Korin's blog but if you started with me, you should head back to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog to start from the beginning.

I have two ENTIRELY different sets to show you today.  The first is charming little Cocoa popping out of an Easter egg...

This set is called Egg-Cited Cocoa.  I used Echo Park Dots & Stripes, also available in the store.  And the heart die is also from Sweet 'n Sassy - the Hearts and Stars Scallop Border.  (The layout is from a sketch found at Cardabilities.)

Then on an entirely different note...

It's the Rose Collage set and it is gorgeous.  There are 16 different sentiment to go inside the banner so it is completely flexible.  The two butterflies are on the main collage stamp - but there are also two separate stamps so it is easy to stamp and cut out.  (The colors are from colourQ.)

Next...for your hopping pleasure...is Giovana.  Have fun!

Be sure to make plans to join us for our new release party tonight; the fun takes place over in our member company forums on Splitcoaststampers.  We'll have great fellowship with crafty friends, challenges, and a prize drawing!  The excitement starts at 8:00 PM EST.

Now, take a look at what the other Design Divas have created to show off this amazing batch of February stamps:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Korin Sutherland

Kim Singdahlsen < - - You Are Here

Giovana Smith

Dina Kowal

Jessica Fick

Kim Schofield

Mary Faus

Monika Davis

Bridget Finlay

Holly McMillen

Cathy McCauley

Amber Hillman

Wendy Jordan (our February guest)

Taylor Usry

Don't forget, the entire February release is available in the store right now; you can order the stamps individually or at a discounted bundle price!  Head over to get yours today!


The challenges that I used are:

I hope he soars...

My eldest has just started school and  a couple of days before he did we took him down to to his new school for some photos, (and luckily we did as my camera died on the morning of his first day).
I wanted to create a layout for him about my hopes  for him starting school and and his journey of life long learning.

 OHHHHH I have used some gorgeous goodies from Greatest View . That fabulous school button that I placed on my wings...and that handmade yoyo button that I made into a sun by sewing rays with my sewing machine. If you are after any of these or other gorgeous handmade items head on over to the blog before they sell out!

 love this gorgeous photo of my boy!

Till next time...

The best laid plans

My sweetie pie, Katy, shared her strep {she is 100% better } with me so I have been more than a little under the weather but somehow that has not completely stopped me from playing with hearts :o)

Or working on the quilt back with the fantastically beautiful Vintage Modern!!!! { I finished the top on Monday!!!!}

I also have this stack of to be quilteds...

and an ironing board FULL of ideas!!!! I need to stop using my ironing board as a table... I'll clean it off tomorrow

My plan is Friday I will be in FULL swing again but you all know what they say about the best laid plans ;o)

Linking to WIP Wednesday

Butterfly Flourish Thank You

This is my second post today - 

keep scrolling if you are looking for Freshly Made Sketches.

Today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge is a fun one because it suggests making a pocket.  It's been a long time since I have done a pocket, plus I have been eyeing a brand new set that I have on my desk - a beautiful butterfly flourish from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  I thought that those butterflies would peek out perfectly!

The butterflies are embossed with a white sparkle embossing powder.

The sentiment is also a new set from Sweet 'n Sassy called "You" but my simple use of two of the words doesn't do the set justice.  There are a variety of "you"s and "U"s to go with twelve coordinating sentiments - you can get an amazing variety of sentiments and looks from this set!

Tomorrow is the actual official release day for all of these new sets.  I have two other sets - totally different from these - to show off in the release hop.  Come back tomorrow for a little "egg-citement" and a beautiful rose!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Butterfly Flourish and You
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake CS and dsp, Marina Mist CS
• Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Marina Mist
• Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Lacey Eyelet Border Die, Stampin' Up Marina Mist Taffeta and Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Sparkle White Detail Embossing Powder (brand unknown), Sizzix Super Scallop Tag Die, gems colored with Copics

A Guest at Freshly Made Sketches

I am thrilled and honored today to be a guest designer at Freshly Made Sketches AND I get to be part of their challenges for all of February!!  They are the perfect challenge for me - they are looking for clean and fresh, but not necessarily simple.  In their own words:


We are looking for clean-lined creations but unlike Clean and Simple challenges, we encourage lots of detail and embellishments as long as they maintain a "clean" look to your card.

And...I love the fact that if they highlight your card - you are a Princess or a Queen!!  It's not often that a woman whose dream day is a day in oversize sweats with inky fingers and glitter in her eyebrows gets to be royalty!

For this week's sketch, I put together a Valentine for my 7-year old niece.  (Hey SIL! Do NOT show this post to your daughter!)

This card is 3 1/4 x 6 1/4 which fits an envelope made by Stampin' Up.  It's a fun and unique size with which to work.

This card was actually planned to be even cleaner than it is.  I knew there was a Valentine in the Stampin' Up set Gift Givers but the set was stashed away in a room in which my son was napping.  (He is 16 years old, but at 6'4" he needs his growing sleep!)  I put the rest of the card together in advance.  When I finally got the stamp, it was much smaller than I envisioned and got lost on this card.  So I found my trusty Martha Stewart tags (they are called tags but are actually a variety of doilies) and dropped one behind the owl - suddenly, the focus is where it belongs!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Gift Givers, Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Berry Bliss dsp
• Ink: Memento Black, copics
• Accessories: EK Success ribbon slot punch, Papertrey Hibiscus ribbon, Stampin' Up heart punch and scalloped heart sizzlit, misc heart gems, Martha Stewart tags (doilies)