Mother's Little Helper

Let's Play Dress Up!

That's today's My Favorite Things' Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge: Let's Play Dress Up!  Create a card or project featuring someone dressing up.  Think dressed up for Halloween, dressed up for a night on the town, or just playing dress up.

I was so excited to see this challenge because it gives me the opportunity to use an image I fell in love with at first sight, but never got around to using: the oh-so-ADORABLE Little Loveosaurus:

Isn't he just the sweetest?  My little guy, Carter, is a costume LOVER and would eat broccoli to have a get-up like the lil dude in this image.  I decided to make a birthday card instead of going Halloween with this challenge because I'm forever in need of birthday cards for little boys.  See that yummy green cardstock?  It's MFT's own Gumdrop Green, which is my favorite (and green is my favorite color, so that's bigger than the average endorsement from moi).  I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and colored him in with Copics.  I wanted the Loveosaurus's skin to look a little mottled and scaly, so after I got him all colored, I dabbed at him with my Copic colorless blender pen.  The furry ribbon is from one of Miss Jody's famous ribbon shares. 

Speaking of playing dress up, I have a picture I just have to share with you.  You've heard me mention our friends, Brad & Kristi, before.  Well, Carter and Uncle Brad are best friends, and they both have a thing about Iron Man.  They like to watch it together (I'm sure they'll be getting together any day now to watch Iron Man 2 since it came out on DVD yesterday), they like to play with Carter's Iron Man helmet and laser-hand thingy, they like to wear Iron Man tee-shirts, etc.  Look what Uncle Brad & Kristi gave Carter for his birthday:

An Iron Man War Machine costume!  Isn't a costume a great gift to encourage imaginative play?  I honestly had never thought of that before.  Needless to say, Carter spends a lot of time shooting me with faux lasers...

Head on over to MFT Lady Kim's blog to find links to all of the MFT Challenge Team and Design Team members participating in this week's challenge.  You're sure to find lots of sweet and/or spooky inspiration!  Kim also has all the details about how to play along and possibly win a $15 dollar voucher to the MFT boutique. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must study for my first quiz of the semester which is tonight.  Wish me luck!  Can't wait to get it behind me, especially since afterwards I have Drunko Bunco with my girlfriends.  Let the Wild Rumpus start!

Later days, Wild Things!

A {Scenic} Sketch For You To Try

I have to admit: I felt a bit guilty not coming up with something new for this week's My Favorite Things' Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge.  As I said in my last post, I realized at the last minute I had to get a paper done for my class that evening.  (And wouldn't you know, half of the class forgot, too, so our prof. gave everyone an extension until next week... she collected the half that had finished them, though, so I'm hoping to curry subliminal favor with her for the rest of the semester.)

Anyway, to do a little stain removal from my otherwise snow-white conscience, I decided to combine today's Sketch For You To Try with this week's WSC Challenge: Make a Scene! Create a scene with your stamps and Die-namics, or use a stamp that shows a scene.  Here's what I came up with:

Oh, I feel so much better now!  Back to normal!

Here's the gist of my scene: I'm going to the farmer's market on a beautiful September morning.  My posture is great, as always, and I'm very pleased with the way my new bra enhances my figure.  I've got a nice wooden basket full of beautiful Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples (even though I'm pretty sure there are no apple orchards in Oklahoma). Capice? 

I used MFT's Who's That Harvest Girl to set this elaborate scene for you (she appears to be sold out at the moment, but will be back in stock soon).  I masked off the parts I would be coloring (apples & jeans), then sponge on the sky with Cool Carribean ink.  I wood-pieced the basket with Paper Thin Wood Veneer from The Cat's Pajama's, and my cute gingham shirt -- which is totally something I would wear in real life -- is from October Afternoon's Farm Fresh collection.  My apples and jeans were colored with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits, and then the apples were given a coat of Glossy Accents for sheen and texture.  I did a little machine stitching on some panels, used a Creative Cafe felt flower, a PTI button, and some yummy linen thread from The Cat's Pajamas (so much easier to work with than scratchy twine that breaks).  A few brads, and wa-la!

Head on over to Jen's blog to see her gorgeous, bright take on today's sketch, and to give a round of applause to September's Guest Designer, Tori Wild.  Then, make your way to my SFYTT Sisters' to see what sort of September sweetness they've got in store for you:

• Amber Height
• Amy Rohl
• Amy Scheffer
• Jenn Dierks
• Jodi Collins
• Kelly Lunceford
• Leigh O'Brien
• Megan Lock
• Sony Christoph
• Susan Liles

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! :)

Making a Scene

Being the shy, retiring wallflower that I am, this week's My Favorite Things' Wednesday Stamp Club challenge {Make a Scene! Create a scene with your stamps and Die-namics, or use a stamp that shows a scene} was really a stretch for me.  I'm just loathe to make a scene or draw any sort of attention to myself...

Because I am so HIGHLY UNCOMFORTABLE with making scenes (and because I just realized that I have a paper due this evening for my Professionalism & Ethics class), I decided to reach into the way-back machine and pull out a little number that fits this week's challenge and has yet to be seen by the public.  Feast your eyes on this peaceful panorama:

I originally created this during my stint as one of Splitcoaststamper's Dirty Dozen.  It's a little vista of Who's That Girl (WTG) getting comfy in her robe and Bunny Slippers.  One of the many great things about WTG images is that they tend to tell a story.  The story here?  WTG has had a long day, and decided to peel off her clothes and get cozy. 

The wood floor beneath her feet was drawn using Copic Markers and a black pen.   I made a frame for the image using Nestabilities long rectangles, and instead of faux stitching, I zig-zagged around the frame with a sewing machine. I attached the image to the frame, then popped it up on Foam Boosters. I adhered all of that to a scrap of the patterned paper so it appeared to be wallpaper and gave a 'shadowbox' effect.

I created the background paper by making a masterboard (where you make your own background paper by stamping and coloring images -- 'masterboard' makes it sound fancy, though, don't you think? ;) ) with the large Bunny Slippers image from the Bunny Slippers set and then coloring them with Copic markers.

Her robe is polka-dotted with a white pen, and her slippers, cuffs, sash & lapel have been Fun Flocked.  The yummy satin ribbon was tied to mimic the sash of her robe.

Go to Kim's blog for all of the challenge details, and to find a list of links to all of the MFT Challenge and Design Team members participating in this week's challenge.  Play with us and you might just win a $15 MFT voucher!

Now, off to the salt mines...

Musings of a MAJOR Celebrity

I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog to the above. What do you think?  What's that?  You didn't know that I'm a celebrity?  Well, neither did I until last week, when my buddy Shannan Teubner contacted me on behalf of AmberINK, and asked if I would be interested in being the first Celebrity Hostess for the AmberINK INKredible 21 Day Challenge.  Me?  A celebrity?  But of course! 

(Shannan is in sales, you know.  I think she must have tipped Amber & Pam Alvarez {the artist-and-mom duo behind AmberINK} that I'm putty in the hand of anyone who showers me with praise and flattery.)

I have decided that if, indeed, I am a celebrity, then I am a MAJOR celebrity.  No sense in being a minor one.  Go big or go home, that's my motto.

So are you ready to hear about AmberINK's 21 Day Challenge?  From the mouth of it's very first MAJOR Celebrity Hostess?  (I'm going to type that self-descriptor as often as I can during this post because it may be my only chance ever.  I hope it's not getting on your nerves.  But if it is?  You can write your own blog post about how obnoxious I am.  Just make sure you link back to me.  As all MAJOR celebrities know, any publicity is good publicity...) 

This month's theme is: TRICK OR TREATY AMBERINKY -- Create a Halloween project using an AmberINK product.

Here is what I came up with as my sample:

A sweet little banner featuring AmberINK's brand new HeyLoWeen Kiddos images, as well as some of AI's oh-so-fun digi-paper (Spider Polka Dot Patterns - Bright).  Want a close up?  Of course you do.  Because I'm a MAJOR celebrity and you're hanging on my every word...

Here's the little Bat Boy.  I drew the Batman symbol on his shirt with a Copic Fine Liner pen.

Next up?  A wee Bride of Frankenstein.  I think she's such a cutie.  I know Frankie's original bride had pale skin, black hair, and a white dress, but I wanted to give this little gal some colorful pizazz.  I personally would take any opportunity I could to have green skin and purple hair.

Next up is my favorite image of the bunch.  I couldn't put my finger on why it was I liked this little guy the best, but when my husband looked at it, he articulated it right away: "He looks like Carter -- that's the way he walks around all the time, not just when he's trying to walk like a mummy."  EXACTLY! :)

Last but not least, we have a sweet little kitty.  I love the way Amber drew her to look like she was wearing her leotard and tights from dance, with the add-on of ears, mask & tail.  Who didn't have a similar costume growing up?

I printed all the images out (gotta love the instant gratification of digi-images!) and colored them in with Copics.  The sentiment was computer generated, using LD Red Hatter's Hand font, bold, in 48 point.  I used the fantastic new Pennant CutUps dies from The Cat's Pajamas to make the banner triangles, connected them with some ghost brads from Queen & Co., and used some skinny black gingham ribbon for the end ties.

Head on over to the AmberINK Challenge Blog to learn all the details of the 21 Day Challenge.  It's such a cool deal -- they have a lot of great prizes, and the Grand Prize is a doozie: you get to co-design a set with Amber!  Isn't that fabulous?  I'd love to do that myself, but you know, I'm disqualified from participating because I'm -- wait for it -- AmberINK's first {MAJOR} Celebrity Hostess.  *sigh*  Sometimes it's tough being a celebrity... you often have to forgo opportunities available to the 'little people.'

Well, I'm off to do those mysterious things celebrities do with their time when they aren't being hounded by paparazzi.  Homework for my night class, laundry, picking up my wreck of a house.  What can I say?  I lead a very glamorous life!

PS -- Oooh... here's a great idea!  Make your Trick or Treaty AmberInky project a two-fer like I have!  Craft Critique is having a Halloween Blog Carnival, and every one is invited to participate by adding one Halloween project to their linky-list.  Who knows?  Maybe one of us will win the $25 crafty gift pack!  Good luck!

A {Tweet} Sketch For You To Try!

You twinkle up above us... we twinkle below

(My kids detest when I wake them up, singing that song.  I, on the other hand, enjoy it immensely.)

Happy Saturday!  And Happy Birthday to me!  I'm not one of those women who's afraid to tell her real age.  I am 41 years old, and I like to kick, stretch, and KICK!  

I know you're dying to know what sort of excitement I've got in store for my special day.  Well, I'm going to Truman's soccer game at 2, and then home to do laundry!  Woo-hoo!  The OU game will be on TV.  My husband will be at the game in Norman, sitting in a suite with legendary Sooner football coach, Barry Switzer.  Meanwhile, I'll be folding his socks and underwear (Sean's, not Barry's).  But I'm not bitter...

Actually, I'm really not bitter.  Sean cooked me a wonderful birthday dinner last night.  He made baby-back ribs on the Big Green Egg (so, so, delicious), baked potatoes, and chopped salad.  Then, for dessert, a red velvet cake -- my fave! -- with 41 flaming candles.  See?

Life is good!

But enough about me...

Let's talk about today's Sketch For You To Try!  Jen has put together another great one to get your mojo a-go-go:

I couldn't wait to use my new "Little Bird" set from The Cat's Pajamas with this sketch.  I am totally smitten with these new images by Laurie Nadeau -- have you gotten your hands on any yet?  If not, you must.  I think they are so sweet, but with a wee bit o' edge.  Perfection!

I got a little carried away with my Copic Opaque White; once I got it on my tiny brush, I couldn't seem to stop!  I considered trashing it and starting over, but then... nah.  Wabi-sabi, right?  Beauty in imperfection.  That philosophy helps me rationalize many times daily.

I added some yellow polka dots to her jacket with Liquid Applique. My stripes were made using felt, fabric tape, and the new Pinking Border CutUps die from The Cat's Pajamas.  The flower/bird embellishment was made using MFT's Perfect Petal Trio Die-Namic.  Patterned paper is from Crate Paper's Restoration 6"x6" pad, and she was colored with Copics. 

She looks kind of Swedish, don't you think?  Little Elin, happy at last...

Stop by Jen's blog to see what she and this month's Guest Designer, Tori Wild, have done with the sketch, then head on over to see what kickin' creations my stretchy SFYTT Sisters have come up with:

• Amber Height
• Amy Rohl
• Amy Scheffer
• Jenn Dierks
• Jodi Collins
• Kelly Lunceford
• Leigh O'Brien
• Megan Lock
• Sony Christoph
• Susan Liles

Wanna play along with us?  Be sure to upload your card to Jen's blog and use 'SFYTT' as a keyword when you upload to an online gallery.  That's how Jen selects her Guest Designers, and you could be next!

Guess Who's Coming For Breakfast?

The past several mornings, this mama doe and her two fawns have stopped by our front yard to munch on acorns that have fallen from our pin oaks.

Sean, Carter and I like to watch them from the window in our den, and this morning, I decided to take a few pics through the window.  Sorry the photos are a bit fuzzy -- it's as good as I could get without scaring them off.

Y'all come back now, you hear?

Come on, Get Happy!

Hello world here's the song that we're singin'... Come on, get happy!

A whole lotta lovin' is what we'll be bringin' ... Come on, get happy!

Ah... The Partridge Family.  I really wanted to be Tracy Partridge when I was a little girl.  What could be better than riding around in that Mondrian-inspired bus, hanging out with Danny and Keith, and not needing any musical talent beyond playing the tambourine? 

But, alas.  That wasn't my journey.  Instead, I was meant to bring you today's Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge from My Favorite Things: Let's Get Happy!  Create a card or project that just screams happiness!  And truly, I'm good with that.  Tracy probably peaked early -- before she was even out of elementary school -- and quite possibly is shake 'n' baking crystal meth in the backseat of a Gremlin, parked at a rest stop on the outskirts of Tucumcari, New Mexico.  That's pure speculation on my part, by the way.  Not trying to start any rumors or anything.  Besides, Tracy is fictional.  I'm just saying, child stars of the 70s and 80s?  Not such a happy lot by and large.

But we stampers are VERY happy!  And you know what makes me happy?  A good book.  Right now, I'm in the middle of a great one -- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  And I just finished up reading The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, which was fantastic.  One of the greatest blessings of my life is that I'm a voracious reader.  Which means I am never, ever bored.  I carry a book with me wherever I go, just in case I have to wait.  A long wait rarely bothers me because it gives me a chance to read. 

So, with that in mind, here's a card that makes me happy:

I used the recently released Well Read Who's That Girl image and lots of patterned paper from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop 8"x8" paper pad.  See that yummy aqua-ish cardstock?  That's MFT's own Berrylicious cardstock, and it makes me happy, too! 

Since happiness is definitely in the eye of the beholder, I'd love to know what makes you happy!  Leave a comment and tell me, or play with us this week and stamp it out.  When uploading to an online gallery, be sure to use the keyword MFTWSC091510 so we can heap lavish praise upon you. 

I can't wait to check out my fellow Challenge Team mates happy cards:

Amy Rohl

Cammie King

Dawn Easton

Wendy Bond

as well as those by Julie Dinn and Kim van der Sanden (THE MFT Lady).

For more happy chatter, head on over to the WSC thread on MFT's Member Company Forum on Splitcoast.

In the meantime, you know what I'll be doing...

ETA:  Just found out I made a mistake: The current challenge is actually SUPER STAR -- to create a project featuring a superstar or to use stars in your project.  Well, let's just say my sample is of an All-Star reader.  She whizzes through books like War and Peace, Moby Dick, and Infinite Jest with the greatest of ease, able to leap difficult passages and run-on sentences in a single bound!

A {Bewitching} Blog Hop!

Hello, my pretties!  I'm your next stop on The Cat's Pajamas' New Release/TCP Tuesday Blog Hop!  Did you come here via the AMAZING Ana Wohlfahrt?  If so, goody!  If not, I know you don't want to miss out on any of the fun, so be sure to start from the beginning of the hop with the oh-so-ALLURING Amy Rohl, this week's Hipster Hostess with the Mostess.  See Amy or Alma's blogs for all the details on how to play along with us and have a chance to be our next Swanky Stamper!

This week, Ms. Amy has issued a supply challenge that is near and dear to my preppy little heart: incorporate some sort of PLAID into your design.  I don't know about y'all, but plaid comforts me.  Black watch plaid kilts, flannel Lanz nightgowns, my family's Cunningham tartan (I'm Scottish on my mother's side)... *sigh!*  Is it any wonder that I squeal whenever the new L.L. Bean catalog comes out? 

But enough about me.  Let's talk about Elphaba, otherwise known as the Wicked Witch of the West.  As the novel and musical 'Wicked' revealed, she's not truly wicked, just misunderstood.  You know what I think the problem may have been?  Her hair.  It was too close in color to her hat and didn't flatter her skin tone.  Think how things might have been different for her if she'd had tresses like this sweet witch...

Isn't she adorable?  Her kitty seems to think so.  I used the new Witchy set, colored her with Copics, and paper pieced her dress.  I also used the new Inside Pinking Border Cut-Ups die to give a little pizazz to the patterned paper layers.  The sketch is this week's Mojo Monday.

Here's a fun and easy tip to remember: don't have the color of ribbon you want?  Don't fret -- just pull out your Copics and color it!  As Journey sang, "Any way you want it, that's the way you need it."  Please sing that the next time you color some ribbon and think happy thoughts, okay?

Now, head on over to the TERRIFIC Toni Armstrong's blog, where I'm sure she'll have a plaid piece of heaven for you to feast your eyes on!

Sneaky Peek of a New Illustrator!

{Please scroll down for my SFYTT post; I am being an overachiever and posting twice -- TWICE! -- today!}

I'm super, super excited to show you the next SNEAKY PEEK from The Cat's Pajamas upcoming release.  We have a new illustrator, Laurie Nadeau, and I swear, when I first saw her drawings I SWOONED!  Her stuff is so, so, so up my alley!  Cute and cartoon-y with a nice heavy line...

Need a visual?  Okay...

Ain't she sweet?!  And yes, that is an owl on her head.  I, myself, am not a bird/winged creature lover.  It's not that I'm scared of them; they just freak me out.  I think I saw The Birds one too many times when I was a little girl.  And I was chased and pecked by a chicken when I was three.  So you won't see me with an owl on my head any time soon, but I think this little gal is cute enough to pull it off.  I asked Truman (my 13 year old) if he thought the owl just landed there or if it's her pet.  He voted for pet since she's smiling and not clutching her skull in terror.

She and Woodsy appear to be looking at something.  I think they are enjoying the beautiful fall foliage, as exemplified by the Flower Soft-ed bushes. I had the current Moxie Fab challenge -- Offset Scallop Gallop -- in mind as I was creating this.  Instead of scallops, I made a background using the new Cut-Ups Pinking Border die (all of the new Cat's Pajamas stuff will be released on Sept. 14th).  I made a little border around the main panel using eggplant Adirondack Dimensional Pearls.  I was trying to channel my inner Sankari, but I don't think she heard me as they're a little wonky.  Oh well -- chalking that one off to wabi sabi.

Remember, if you want to win all TWELVE of The Cat's Pajamas new sets, you've gotta leave comments on all the featured Sneaky Peek blogs.  Leave me some love, and then head on over to Alma's blog to see the other Cat Packers you need to visit.

Gotta run, peeps.  My experiment in intention regarding party preparation as mentioned in my earlier post has been an abject failure.  And time is ticking away.  I can't put my chores off any longer.  Have a good one, and I'll see you on Monday with another SNEAKY PEEK!

I INTEND for you to love this blog post...

Guten morgen, ihr lieben! (Translation: Good morning, dears!)  How are you today?  Me?  I'm dreaming of cooler temperatures.  Tomorrow we're throwing Carter's birthday bash, and I'd really like the weather to cooperate so that we can keep it contained to the back yard. 

According to Oprah and her coterie of gurus, all I need to do is INTEND cooler weather and the universe will cooperate.  My thoughts manifest my experience.  I've got a bit of a beef with this theory, I must confess, because heaven knows I have spent years willing cerebral palsy away, but what do I know?  If Oprah says it, it must be so... 

With that in mind, I bring you a little two-fer: my interpretation of Jen's Sketch For You To Try for today, and a SNEAKY PEEK of The Cat's Pajamas new set -- DEEP BREATH.  What does this have to do with cooler weather?  You'll see... 

Isn't this sketch fun?  I love the skewed-stripey embellishment line.  I used felt and some fun gingham fabric tape to make mine.  See the two different sizes of pinking edges on the sage felt and the gingham?  Those are two of the newest Cut-Ups dies (Pinking Border and Big Pinking Border) being released by The Cat's Pajamas; I'm absolutely cuckoo for pinking, so you are going to see these used a lot around these parts!

Another little feature I want to draw your attention to: Mr. Bunny's fabulous hat and scarf.  I dressed it up with some of TCP's chunky German glass glitter from the Baby Love Glitzy pack.  The felt button was made with TCP's Buttons Cut-Ups and tied off with Cherry Divine Twine.

The Cat Pack has been SNEAKY PEEKing all week long, and if you leave a comment on each of the featured blog posts, you could win all TWELVE of the new sets being released Sept. 14th!  For a complete roster of sneaky peek posts, go to Alma's blog.

And of course, for today's Sketch For You To Try you'll need to head on over to Jen's blog where she and September Guest Designer Tori Wild will have something sensational to show you, as will my mind-blowingly talented SFYTT Sisters:

• Amber Height
• Amy Rohl
• Amy Scheffer
• Jenn Dierks
• Jodi Collins
• Kelly Lunceford
• Leigh O'Brien
• Megan Lock
• Sony Christoph
• Susan Liles

I'll be back later today for another SNEAKY PEEK, believe it or not!  See, I figure I don't need to waste my time actually cleaning house, doing laundry or preparing for the party; I'll just INTEND for those things to happen while I get a little stamping done!  Man, that Oprah... she's got it all figured out!

= + +

Smart Blonde

Happy HumpDay!  And Happy My Favorite Things' Wednesday Stamp Club challenge day!  Today's challenge is very timely:  Back To School Blues -- Create a project featuring something related to going back to school and use something blue.

Here's what I came up with...

For the back to school part of this challenge, I used the Pure Innocence Making the Grade image.  She's not only cute, she's also smart -- look at her explaining the Theory of Relativity to the rest of the class!  As for the blues, I've used midnight blue cardstock and patterned papers with varying shades of blue, lots of baby blue brads, and I even drew on a little pair of baby blue socks for her (so her shoes won't rub blisters).  The sketch is Jen's Sketch For You To Try from last Saturday (the one I egregiously missed as confessed in my last post), and I used MFT's Open Scallop Border Die-Namic to create the fun kraft sentiment/embellishment strip.  The sentiment I used is from the Pure Innocence - Emma With Her Backpack set.

Let's go see what the other smart chickies on the MFT Challenge Team put together to inspire you...

• Alex Maldonado
• Amy Rohl
• Carolyn King
• Dawn Easton
• Leigh O'Brien
• Wendy Bond
• Julie Dinn
• and, of course, Kim van der Sanden
  

Come play with us!  Discuss the challenge on this thread in MFT's SCS Member company forum, and when you upload to SCS, be sure to use the keyword MFTWSC090810. 

Thanks for coming to visit today! :)

An Open Letter From the Mother of the Year

Dear Jen and my SFYTT Sisters (Amy R., Amy S., Kelly, Susan, Leigh, Megan, Jodi, Amber, and Sony),

Er... um... you may have noticed that I neglected to post a sample for Jen's Sketch For You To Try on Saturday.  It wasn't that I didn't like this week's sketch -- it's fabulous, as always, and in fact I will be utilizing it tomorrow for the My Favorite Things' Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge. 

And it's not that I'm not terribly impressed with September's Guest Designer, Tori Wild.  In fact, I gave her a shout-out during The Cat's Pajamas Customer Blog Hop a couple of weeks ago for her delightful (and ultimately Swanky-Stamper-worthy) entry.

No, it's that when I sat down to do a little stamping last Thursday, I was seized with guilt.  As I mentioned in my last blog post, I realized I was absolutely down-to-the-wire and in dire need of getting invitations put together for Carter's birthday party.  It's this coming Sunday -- the 12th -- and I had to get something out the next day to ensure invitees would have at least a week's notice.  And, owing to Carter's longstanding devotion to the #1 blue engine, it's a Thomas the Tank Engine-themed affair. 

What to do?  Go out and try to find some store-bought Thomas invitations?  Or make my love for Carter tangible by finally put to use those Thomas stamps I have from my days as a designer for the now-defunct Cornish Heritage Farms?  Those Thomas stamps were one of the big reasons I started designing for CHF in the first place, you know.  How many opportunities does a stamper have to be an official designer for her child's hero?  The worlds of stamping and toys don't collide like that every day.  Of course, once I joined CHF, there was never another Thomas release.  Well, there were plenty of Thomas Kinkade releases, but not Thomas the Tank Engine...

Anyway -- on Thursday afternoon I had a choice to make.  And as much as I love you girls and hold the SFYTT in the highest of esteem, this was probably going to be the last time those Thomas stamps were ever going to make themselves useful. 

 
There was no way in heck I was about to color 15 or so of these detailed images, so I decided to heat emboss them with some sparkly Sapphire embossing powder from Powder Keg.  And, thinking that would look a little plain on ordinary white cardstock, I went online to find some free printable graph paper, which I printed out in red on Georgia Pacific cardstock. 

The yellow background paper was created by inking the large Thomas track backgrounder stamp in Versamark, and stamping it off onto YoYo Yellow paper.  I know y'all make fun of me for using YoYo Yellow all the time, but it comes in handy on projects like this! 

I heat embossed a sentiment from the (no longer available) Mona Lisa Moments Train Sentiments set in China red embossing powder, tied off some Cherry Divine Twine from The Cat's Pajamas, added a couple of brads, and rounded a corner.

For being fairly simple, I think it turned out pretty cute.  And best of all, Carter LOVES them!  He walked around with the prototype all evening long as I set up a table in the living room with all of my supplies and churned them out, finally wrapping things up around midnight.

The next morning, I got these babies in the mailbox and we promptly left town for the holiday weekend to go watch Truman in a soccer tournament.  Though I felt a little guilty for not doing my SFYTT, I was also feeling pretty Mother-of-the-Yearish, sure that when those envelopes were opened on Saturday, I would be the subject of awe and envy as a chorus of "How does she do it?" rang throughout northeastern Oklahoma. 

I should have called you, Jen, on the five-plus hour trek to the tournament site, which was actually in your neck of the woods, but I was overcome by the stench of Truman's reeking equipment bag and the narcolepsy that immediately hits me whenever I am a passenger in a vehicle.  That, and I was dreading telling you that I would be flaking out.

But know that I received my karmic due: I came home Sunday night to find that my mother, who took it upon herself to bring in our mail while we were out of town, removed the invitations on Friday from our mailbox before the letter carrier could pick them up.  How she mistook 15 identically shaped envelopes bearing our return address and no postmark to be incoming mail, I can't fathom, but nevermind...  

I had to send an email and/or call the invitees as the invitations won't be getting mailed until today. *sigh*

So, anyway, there you have it.  My confession.  I hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me.  Until then, I remain your humble servant.

xo, Carole