Howdy Pardner!

Howdy and Happy Friday!

I couldn't help myself...the greeting was all too obvious.

We are on the final day of New Release Previews

over at

Tomorrow all of the stamps will be available

for sale and I know a lot of people who are 

pretty darned excited!

Until then, we have one more set to share with you

that will be the  

April Release Gift with $50 purchase

and it's called...

'Giddy Up'

designed by Nina Brackett

I see all kinds of possibilities with this set....everything from a fun

greeting for a cowgirl to a set of invitations to a cowboy cookout.

I hung the sign with denim baker's twine by The Twinery

and decided that no saddle was complete without a few pearls.

Make sure you pop by

 The Craft's Meow Blog

and check out the fabulous-ness

from all of the designers.

TCM is giving away a new release set

each day, so make sure you leave a comment

on the blog for a chance to win!

I am so glad you stopped by today and I hope

you will plan to come by each day this week

so you don't miss a thing!

It's a Boy Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: red gingham by A Muse Studios
Stamps: Giddy Up by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: baker's twine in denim by The Twinery
stars by White Blossom, brads & pearls by Recollections

Beautiful Spring with The Craft's Meow

The day is finally here  !!!

The designers at The Craft's Meow have been so looking forward

to this week of new release previews.

It's extra special because TCM is celebrating our

first birthday!

Over the next four days, we will share previews of 1-2 sets

each day and to make it extra fun, we will have a challenge available

for you to participate in so you can join the celebration

and have a chance to win prizes & a possible

GUEST DESIGN spot with TCM!

 For all the details, check out the TCM Blog.

Here is our first challenge....

A beautiful sketch challenge by our creative

Amy Tsuruta.

The first two sets we are previewing were designed by the very talented

Nina Brackett of Nina B Designs for TCM.

'Beautiful Spring' & 'Mother & Father' are perfect for this time of the year.

For this card, I stamped a base with a gorgeous floral image from the

'Beautiful Spring' set in Latte & French Roast ink by A Muse Studio.
All A Muse Studio inks are available directly to your door from
my web store HERE

They are the perfect shade to match these papers from Echo Park.

I used the Fancy Tags Two & Standard Circle dies from Spellbinders

to create the focal points.  How beautiful is that butterfly...also from

the same stamp set.  I adore Nestabling by Want2Scrap and thought

it was the perfect embellishment for the sentiment.

I love the 'vintage-style' florals of this paper and hope it's ok
to share it with the folks over at CARDS/Create for their
'Vintage Florals' Challenge.

 How would you like a chance to win one of these stamp sets before they

go on sale next week?  All you need to do is visit our designer's blogs and
make sure to leave a comment over on The Craft's Meow blog.
You'll have until 9pm PDT each day to leave your comment and the winners
will be announced the following day along with the next preview & challenge.

We would love for you to play along with each challenge during our
1st Birthday Bash...all the details are on the TCM Blog.

I'd love to hear from you....please leave a note & make sure you leave
a contact address so I can say hello back.

Enjoy the bash!!!

Project Recipe: 

Patterned Paper:  Graceful from This 'n That from Echo Park
Stamps:  Beautiful Spring & Mother & Father from The Craft's Meow
Ink:  Latte & French Roast from A Muse Studio 

Embellishments:  Nestabling by Want2Scrap, pearls from Recollections

Tools:  Fancy Tags Two & Standard Circles die from Spellbinders, Big Shot

No Greater Love

Happy Friday !

I am so happy you stopped by The Open Window today!

 

The Craft's Meow is having a wonderful blog hop featuring a

a beautiful stamp set for Easter.

If you've come by way of my talented friend

Jessica Fick's blog

then you are on the right trail to complete the hop.

If not, I would love for you to start at the beginning over at

The Craft's Meow blog

because YOU could win our fabulous giveaway!

Our beautiful set was designed by  

Nina Brackett of NinaB Designs

The set is called 'No Greater Love' and is absolutely stunning!

The details on the beautiful cross are amazing.

I stamped the cross in Slate ink by A Muse Studio 

on paper from Little Yellow Bicycle.

I love how the vintage ornate look of the paper really enhances

the image. I mounted it behind an oval die cut card.

The sentiment was stamped & edged in 

Aged Mahogany & Old Paper Distress Ink from Ranger.

There were so many ways I thought of embellishing the crown,

but decided to keep it simple with clear rhinestones.

As I mentioned earlier, you can THIS SET if you stop

by each blog on the hop.  There are ONLY TEN BLOGS TO VISIT.

Make sure to leave a comment on each to be entered to win!

You'll have until 9pm PST, Sunday March 4th to hop.

Before I send you on your way to the next blog, I want to remind you

of what an exciting month it is as TCM celebrates

We are celebrating right now over on the  

TCM Facebook Page

Come check out how you can win up to a

$100 Shopping Spree!!

It's time to send you on your way to our

newest design team member, my friend

Karen Baker

Don't forget to leave a comment before you head on

because I would love to see YOU win!!

Project Recipe: 

Patterned Paper: Saturdays by Little Yellow Bicycle
Stamps:  No Greater Love from The Craft's Meow  
Ink: Slate from A Muse Studio
Aged Mahogany & Old Paper Distress Ink by from Ranger 
Embellishments: rhinestones from Recollections

Happy .... Happy!

For The Play Date Cafe Challenge
Please scroll down

Happy March 1st!

It's a great month to celebrate as it's  

National Craft Month

but even better it's.........

The Craft's Meow's 

1st Birthday!

To kick off the celebration, we are welcoming one of the

most talented designers I know to our wonderful list

of stamp illustrators

Karen Baker 

If you don't know her, you will and I know you are going

to love her style!

It's also the beginning of a new Sketch Challenge at TCM

This beautiful sketch was designed by the lovely Nina Brackett

and I just love it!

To honor my dear friend Lisa, who is the owner of TCM,

I used this month's sketch to celebrate the anniversary.

This card features the stamp set 'I've Got Your Number'

using beautiful patterned paper from Momenta.

How about the fonts on this set??!!!  They are so bold and I love

having the ability to use large numbers and letters.

Lots of die cutting, decorative punching and layering all in one card!

I am a huge fan of greens and dark blues together.

I started by making my own over-sized banner.  Underneath is one of my

favorite border punches from EK Success.

I cut the Beaded Ovals die from Spellbinders out of white cardstock

and sponged the edges with shell pink ink from A Muse Studio.

I then cut Fancy Tags Two {also from Spellbinders} out of a

textured green cardstock and layered that on top.

The little daisies were punched using a Fiskars punch and embellished with

a small pearl in each.

I hope you will make plans to play in the challenge at some

point in the month......and I hope you will visit TCM often

because we have celebrations galore all month long!

Thanks so much for popping by!!

Project Recipe: 

Patterned Paper: Family Forever by Momenta
Stamps:  I've Got Your Number from The Craft's Meow  
Embellishments: pearls from Recollections

Tools: Beaded Ovals & Fancy Tags Two die by Spellbinders, Big Shot
Arch Lattice border punch by EK Success, Daisy punch by Fiskars

From the Heart

Welcome back to The Open Window!

It's time for another fabulous color challenge from

and look at these beautiful colors....

Mojito....Peony....Sand

This card is a 'quilted' pattern....

I took a little color license with the subtlety and went a smidge deeper

in my shades.  I used the fabulous new collection by Lori Whitlock

for Echo Park as my featured paper and showcased the beautiful

Lovely Labels 18 & Sew Lovely by NinaB Designs from The Craft's Meow.

I love everything Nina Brackett designs and these polka dot frames are

one of my favorites for sure!

I used the brocade embossing folder from Cuttlebug over the design on the patterned paper

for a little more texture to the quilt and on the other side are

the large 'dots' also from Cuttlebug.

I thought I would share this with the folks over at CARDS/Create

as they are having a challenge for 'quilt-style' cards.

I hope you will plan to join us in The Cafe for this great challenge.

Our design team have created a collection of very inspirational projects

to help get your creative juices flowing.

Project Recipe: 

Patterned Paper: Graceful by Lori Whitlock for Echo Park
Stamps:  Sew Lovely & Lovely Labels 18 from The Craft's Meow  
Embellishments: Element Stickers in Graceful by Echo Park
brads & lace by The Paper Studio
Inks:  Latte & Slate by A Muse Studio

Tools: Brocade & Large Dots EF by Cuttlebug, Big Shot

The Craft's Meow + WCMD = The Pefect Pair!

Welcome to 

The Craft's Meow  

New Release Blog Hop

on World Card Making Day!

Five brand new stamp sets 

have been revealed

and are ready for you to order.
What an exciting time for you to
be a part of this hop with so much
inspiration from our very
talented design team!

If you've come here by way of the

most talented Jessica Fick

you are in the right spot!

If not, I'd like to invite you to 

start at the beginning over at

The Craft's Meow Blog

 because there is a fantastic prize 

for those who make their way around 

to each designer's blog.

I decided to play with the fun set

designed by my friend Nina Brackett.

If you visited earlier in the week, 

you will recognize that

fab gingham paper from  

A Muse Studio once again.

This set has so many possibilities...

just take a look:

'Fruity for You'

and while you're at it, here are the other

sets that are now being released and

a re-visit of projects from this week:

'As We Gather Together'

'Apple Pickin' Time'

 'Happy Fall'

'Fall Fun'

How would you like to win 

all 5 of these sets??!!!

Just make a visit to each blog 

on the hop

and be sure to leave a comment.  

Easy-peasy!

On my blog,

just answer this question...

Which of these sets 

is your favorite?

 

Hey!  Here's something else 

you need to know from The Craft's Meow....

In recognition of World Card Making Day, all of our card kits... and our Maya Road shadowbox kit...are on sale for 35% off!!! That's right!!! No coupon is necessary... the prices shown in the store are the discounted prices. There are VERY limited quantities and they will not be re-stocked, so be sure to order quickly! You will LOVE creating cards in the style of Sarah Martina Parker, Jessica Fick and Alice Wertz!

OK...

next stop is my friend

and the uber-talented

Lindsay Amrhein

Have fun on the hop!!!

Perfect Pair Project Recipe: 

Designer Paper: Gingham Colors by A Muse Studio
Ink: 'Cranberry & Slate' from A Muse Studio
Stamps:  'Fruity for You' by The Craft's Meow

Tools: Pear EF from Cuttlebug, Bracket Die from Sizzix, Big Shot
Embellishments:  gems from 'Icons' by MAMBI & Recollections

See this week's release posts for

all other project recipes

You're Simply the Best!

For

The Play Date Cafe Challenge

Click HERE

It is Day #4 of the 

New Release Previews for....

The Craft's Meow

Today we are 'sneaking' a set designed by

the very popular and very lovely

Nina Brackett of Nina B Designs

I decided to step out of the fall motif

and go with something a bit different with

this set called 'Fruity for You'

I love the sentiment that comes with

this set.  The song 'Simply the Best' has

such a nostalgic meaning to Paul & I as

we sat in the back of a taxi in

Dublin, Ireland rushing through the

tiny streets with this song playing

loudly...it was just a great day!

The patchwork on the pears inspired me

to pull out the beautiful gingham cardstocks

and the FAB inks from A Muse Studio.

I've said it many, MANY times, but I really do

AdOrE

the inks from A Muse Studio and they are

absolutely perfect for a project like this because

they are vibrant and silky, quick drying chalk inks.

AdOrE!!!

All A Muse Studio stamps, inks & accessories 

are available through my web store.

You can order there and it is shipped

next day directly to your door!

I alternated the colors of the pears with the

colors of the backgrounds and that is pretty

much it.  Very simple design but really packs

a punch in the color department.

Make sure you visit The Craft's Meow blog

and check out the rest of the design team's

projects.  You will get a real taste for this set

by the time it is released on Saturday! 

You can also win a set, 

so make sure to leave

a comment before you leave.  
TCM will be drawing a name 
each day

and you never know 
it could be YOURS!

Project Recipe: 

Designer Paper: Gingham Colors by A Muse Studio
Ink: Tuxedo Black by Memento,
'Orange, Ocean, Fern & Cranberry' from A Muse Studio
Stamps:  'Fruity for You' by The Craft's Meow

Tools:Corner Rounder from Fiskars

How Sweet it is at CAS-ual Fridays

For the Sweet Stamp Shop

Blog Hop...Click Here!

It's a new day and a new challenge over at

CAS-ual Fridays

This week, the challenge is to make

Clean and Simple

Mini-Cards.  

I LoVe anything miniature!

I toyed with the idea of making gift tags,

but I couldn't resist picking up this beautiful

stamp from Layers of Color.

I received this beautiful set of stamps as

a gift from my friend Nina Brackett

and it's simply....gorgeous.

The challenge calls for cards 4" x 4" or smaller.

I 'adjusted' and sort of split the difference so I

could fit this beautiful image on to the card,

so mine measures 4 1/4" x 3 3/4".

This card reminds me of the bees that make

their way in to each bloom of the flowers on

my patio.  As summer draws to a close

(and for the past 2 nights, the pots have come in due to frost advisories)

I will miss the days of watching nature do

what it's supposed to do.

We are very happy to welcome another

new sponsor to the Break Room at

CAS-ual Fridays

I hope you'll come play...my fellow

'Girl Fridays' have created quite a gallery

of inspiration for you.

Thanks for stopping by...and thank you

in advance for leaving a little love

here at The Open Window...from my heart to yours!

Project Recipe: 

Stamps:  'Honeysweet' by Layers of Color
Inks:   Tuxedo Black by Memento from A Muse Studio
Copic Markers 

Tools:  Marvy XL Circle Punch
Embellishments: Stickles in 'Crystal'

Doin' a Drive by.....

Doin' what I call a quick

'drive by'

to share a couple cards I've made

using the newest releases from

Typically, I am making Halloween 

cards by the dozens, but I've not been

able to do that as much this season.

So I appreciate that I can do some great

CAS cards using this set from 

The Craft's Meow

I love to do paper-piecing on my projects

and this one was a no-brainer!

The stamp set is called

'Happy H'owl'oween'!

This totally fits the challenge over at the
CAS-ual Fridays Challenge.

Now for something

completely different!

I love Nina Brackett's style and this

Fun'tache'tic Stamp set is by her.

I then used the letters from the

'It's a Banner Day' &

'Life is a Carnival'

to create the sentiment.

So glad you could stop by!

I'd love to know you were here, so please

leave a quick note and if there is a link, 
I'll pop by your blog

and do the same.

Comments are the lifeblood of our blogs,
aren't they?!

Project Recipe: 

Stamps:  'Happy H'owl'oween'
'It's a Banner Day'
'Life is a Carnival'
'Fun'tache'tic Stamp Set
all by The Craft's Meow
Inks:   Tuxedo Black by Memento, Copic Markers

Tools:  Fiskars corner rounder punch

Embellishments: gem from Recollections