New Release Day with The Craft's Meow!

The day has finally arrived !

It's New Release Day at

All week long we've been sharing previews of the

November collection from TCM and today we celebrate each

set now on sale with our team blog hop.

You should have arrived here by way of my

talented friend & teammate

Jessica Fick's Blog

If not, please PLEASE make sure you stop back at

The Craft's Meow Blog

 because there is so much beautiful inspiration from

each designer and

YOU COULD WIN THE ENTIRE RELEASE

just by stopping by and leaving a little love with us !

My cards have been quite Clean & Simple of late and

although this one stays on that theme, it uses

three sets from TCM . . .

'Zoom Goes My Heart'

'Valentine's Wishes'

and from the previous release

'Holiday Foundations'

The only additions to this card were baker's twine from The Twinery

and beautiful gem flourishes from Zva Creative

Don't forget . . .

'Stitched Sentiments Two' is this month's 

FREE GIFT w/$50 purchase

AND

to be eligible to win this month's entire release,

make a visit to each designer's blog

{complete list over at TCM}

and leave a little love by 9pm PST, Sunday, Dec 2nd

Thanks so very much for coming by . . .

I won't keep you long because it's time to get your on your way 

to the most talented

Karen Baker's Blog

Always great to have you at The Open Window !
 

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill
Stamps: Zoom Goes my Heart, Holiday Foundations & Valentine's Wishes

all by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: gems flourish from Zva Creative
baker's twine in Blossom from The Twinery

Happy Birthday to Sweet 'n Sassy!

For The Craft's Meow Preview

and

The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge

Please Scroll Down

{it's a busy day here today }

I am so glad you came by for a very special celebration

and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

My friend Korin is celebrating her 5th Birthday

as owner of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

and it's quite a party !

I love the friendships I've made through my blog

and this is one I've had for a couple years now.

Korin is a creative designer and offers a variety of

images that appeal to so many styles.

I've been designing pretty Clean & Simply lately

and 'Forest Silhouettes' makes it really easy.

I had lots of ideas and settled on this one using

Memento inks.  This is a great set for Christmas too !

I want to wish a 

BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps !

There are terrific giveaways going on and all you have to do is

make sure you leave a comment on the participating blogs

on the hop.  The deadline to comment & win 

is 11:59pm EST, Friday Nov. 30th.

Winners will be announced over at SNSS December 1st.

Have a great time on the hop 

and don't forget to leave a

little love before you go.  

I'd love for YOU to win !

   

My Heart is Full

For The Play Date Cafe 

Color Splash Challenge

Scroll Down

It's the final day of the New Release Previews over at

It's going to be an exciting day tomorrow as all of the

releases will be available for sale !

Today's set is called 'Zoom Goes my Heart'

It's hard to believe that it's time to think of Valentine cards

and I know you will love this set !  So many fun possibilities.

I used Cosmo Cricket for my 'wallpaper' and layered my

scalloped hearts cut from Spellbinders dies.

You have a chance to win this terrific set !

Just make sure you leave a little love over on 

The Craft's Meow blog by 9:00pm PST tonight.

Tomorrow is Release Day & our Design Team Blog Hop,

so make plans to join us for the fun.

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Tea for Two by Cosmo Cricket
Stamps: Zoom Goes my Heart by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: baker's twine from The Twinery

 

It's Our Final Splash!

Hello and welcome to a very busy day here at The Open Window !

I am super excited to share our last 'Color Splash' challenge

of 2012 over at 

I love this graphic chosen by our Color Story Coordinator

Jaclyn Miller and I think it's perfect for the season.

This time, the 'splash' is Maroon

I recently ordered a couple of stamp sets from Mama Elephant

and have not had much time to create with them, so I thought this

was a perfect opportunity to play with the snow globe in the set.

I stamped the cityscape using Memento's 'Rhubarb Stalk'.

The sentiment is from The Craft's Meow

I sure hope you can make time to play along this week.

It's always fun to see what 'splashes' you come up with.

This week's winner will win something fun from our prize vault.

I'll see you soon !

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Bazzill
Stamps: Mama Elephant & The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: gems from Want2Scrap

Simply Beautiful

It is Day # 3 of the New Release Previews from one of my

favorite stamp companies

Today we are 'dressing up' with a set called

'Beautiful Shelf'

I love this set !  It was so fun to place things on the little

 lacey 'shelf' . . . oh so girly !

Whenever I would visit my grandma's bedroom, she would always

have little 'knick-knack-y' things on her dresser and that's

what I thought of as I stamped this card.

I'm not sure why, but when I think of my grandma, I always

think lavender, so that's the color I focused on.

I embellished the hat and the card base 

with a little bakers twine from The Twinery and added

tiny pearls and brads to complete the look.

You have a chance to win this set !

Make sure you stop by  

The Craft's Meow Store Blog

and leave a comment . . . Easy-Peasy !

We're getting closer to the release, which is this Friday !

Thanks for stopping by !

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: A Muse Studio
Stamps: Beautiful Shelf by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: bakers twine in Lilac & Ocean from The Twinery

 

 

Merry & Bright

Welcome back to The Open Window.

It's Day #2 of our New Release Previews 

Today our designers are sharing ideas using the brand new

'Stitched Sentiments Two'

This set is our FREE GIFT w/$50 PURCHASE this month !

This CAS card was so easy to make and of course, at this time

of the year, it's a great way to get our Christmas cards done.

I used the beautiful designs from the 'Holiday Foundations' set

for my 'bright' stars, embellished them with tiny gems

and layered my cardstock to give it dimension.

I know you are going to love all the new sets from TCM this month!

Each day during our previews, you can have a chance to win the

featured set of the day.  Just head over to the TCM Blog and

leave a comment no later than 9pm PST each day.

The winner will be announced during the next post.

 

Thanks again for stopping by!

I'll see you tomorrow with another preview from

The Craft's Meow.

Project Recipe:
Stamps: Stitched Sentiments Two by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: gems from Recollections

 

Welcome to the Zva Creative November Blog Hop

For The Craft's Meow 
New Release Previews
Please Scroll Down

Happy Monday and welcome to The Open Window.

I am so very excited to be a part of my very first

blog hop as a member of the team over at

We welcome you to the November Blog Hop!

The Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's blog!
*Be sure head on over to check it out! Leave a comment there for a chance
  to win an extra prize package just for visiting the blog and telling us
  that you stopped by!  You will also find a complete list of all the
  participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way).

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers
and crystals. If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list
  of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE

I am totally getting into the holiday spirit using the beautiful bling & pearls

from Zva.  Create a centerpiece using a beautiful Zva rose and it's become

a pretty special card indeed.

For a dose of holiday inspiration from our design team, just follow along
the blog path. I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer
is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way

The Blog Hop starts today, November 26th and runs through midnight US
Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, November 27th.
  

****Prizes****

Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a Zva Creative prize package!

Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do
is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a
comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the
more times you comment along the blog hop path, 

the more chances you will have to win

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 28th on ZvaCreative's blog 

*We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva's blog
on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize! 

To increase your chances of winning:
Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our
hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop 

(link to any of the blog hop posts)

Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva
creative products. If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can
  suggest other products that they don't carry.

Hop over to Zva's blog and leave
a comment there to tell us that you made it there!

Your next stop is CAROLE MAURIN'S BLOG. 

Enjoy!

  P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again on December 31st for our 

next Zva blog hop!

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: All is Bright by My Mind's Eye

Embellishments: Gem flourishes, pearls & roses by Zva Creative

You're Sweet

Welcome in to Day #1 of the New Release Previews for

It's so great to have you with us today as we share a variety of

projects on our team using the first 'previewed' set for November

called 'Valentine Wishes'.

This set has sweetness written all over it!

I decided to create my girl using paper-piecing

and a little bit of bling to add dimension.

I know you are going to love all the new sets from TCM this month!

Each day during our previews, you can have a chance to win the

featured set of the day.  Just head over to the TCM Blog and

leave a comment no later than 9pm PST each day.

The winner will be announced during the next post.

Of course, I would love to hear a little word or two

from you as well before you go.  I sure do appreciate you stopping by!

It's Handmade Holidays Fun!

Hello and welcome in to The Open Window today !

I always enjoy when The Twinery participates in fun events

and today, I am sharing projects with you as the

'featured designer'

during the 2012 Handmade Holidays Blog Hop.

I am so happy to share projects using baker's twine from

The Twinery along with products from Fiskars, Tombow

and Hampton Arts.

My first card was created using paper from 

Simple Stories & Fancy Pants Design.

I simply braided twine in Maraschino, Charcoal & Flax and used it

as a border for this extra-long card.

The snowflakes were punched using fabulous snowflake punches

provided by Fiskars and attached with mini-brads.

Teeny buttons were added to the tree.

This next card is more detailed, but quite easy.

This card is all about the layers starting with paper from My Mind's Eye.

I punched the extra-large 'Geometric Medallion' border by Martha Stewart

and created circular frames using Spellbinders dies.

After layering each piece, I embellished using baker's twine in

Marschino & Ocean and bling from Prima.

How about another holiday card . . . 

This CAS card was created using super cool ornament single punches

and border punch.  The baker's twine is Flax & Stone.

The sentiment is from Hampton Arts.

The ornament tops were created with Stickles and the hangers are tiny gems.

This sweet card was made using stamps from The Craft's Meow

called 'Warm Winter Wishes'.  and paper from Recollections.

I loved making this card (and the next) using 'Stone' baker's twine

for the fringe and mitten ties.

And finally . . .

I used the very same set of stamps and papers, but switched up

the color scheme and used 'Honeydew' & 'Ocean' twine.

 I recently shared this project on my blog.

To see more photos and a complete recipe for the card above,

check out my post HERE

So very happy you stopped by today.

I hope you will join the blog hop. Find out how to participate and possibly win . . .

Three spools of baker's twine in your choice of colors

from The Twinery.

You will get all the details on The Twinery blog

Leave a comment on my blog and 

you could win

3 yards of 12 different colors.

I'll randomly choose a winner here, 

so make sure you

leave your email address 

when you say hello.

Enjoy your weekend !

Generous sponsors who provided products

for the projects above include:

The Twinery

Fiskars

Tombow

Hampton Arts

Holiday Inspiration with The Craft's Meow

Happy Monday !

It's hard to believe the holidays are upon us, but they most

definitely are on the way.

Today, the designers of

are coming together for a

Holiday Card Blog Hop

to inspire YOU this season !

All of the seasonal sets being featured are

on sale 15% off through this Thursday!

If you came by way of my very talented friend

Jessica blog iEmbellish

you are right where you should be to be

eligible to win a TCM stamp set of your choice !

If you just happened to swing by, I'd love to invite you back to

The Craft's Meow Blog

to start there.  When you do, just leave a comment and

YOU could win !

This is one of my favorite sets from TCM called 

'Warm Winter Wishes'.  It's a great set for paper-piecing.

The paper is from Recollections with the scarf & mittens adorned with

baker's twine in Ocean & Honeydew from The Twinery.

I am loving these colors for the winter season !

On a completely different note . . .

'Holiday Foundations' is an absolutely aMAZing set with so many great possibilities.

This CAS card was easy-peasy and could be done in varied colors.

Here are the sets I featured today

 

To be eligible to win a set of your choice, just make sure

you visit the blogs on the hop and leave a comment over

on the TCM blog by 9pm PST, Wednesday Nov 14th

It's time to send you on your way to my friend

Karen blog The Bald Dragonfly

So glad you stopped by !

You Warm my Heart Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned Paper: Jolly & Bright by Recollections
Stamps: Warm Winter Wishes by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: baker's twine in Ocean & Honeydew from The Twinery

Stardust Stickles by Ranger, gems from A Muse Studio

 

 

Happy Holidays Project Recipe:

 Cardstock: Bazzill & Recollections
Stamps: Holiday Foundations by The Craft's Meow

Ink: Cherry & Grass from A Muse Studio 

Embellishments: gems from K&Company