Oh 'Sew' Happy !

It's the weekend and I, for one, am very excited.

The first reason is because Paul is off today and it's always

so great having him at home.  Even if he is in one room

watching a sporting event and I am in the 'nook',

it's nice to know we can have a chat on the spur of the moment.

The next reason I am excited for today is because it's

Day Three of the New Release Previews over at

Today's set was designed by the one and only

Nina Brackett and as always, it's a beauty.

Of course, I can only show you a snippet

of the set, but my card will give you an idea of

what you can expect with these adorable stamps.

It's called 'Sew Happy'

Whenever I have an opportunity to use a set of stamps

or papers with a sewing theme, it is a sweet reminder of

my grandma Alice.  She taught herself how to sew on a machine when I

was very small and I am very proud to say that I have her last sewing

machine and use it on my cards from time to time.

No sewing today . . . but it's a sweet memory.

For this card, I laid down my 'wallpaper' panel using 

Lost & Found Two from My Mind's Eye.

I stamped the dress form and the 'shadow' of the

sewing machine in Slate ink from A Muse Studio.

I then stamped the machine again in Latte ink {also from A/S}

and placed it on top of the shadow with foam tape.

I love the color of the ink as it really gives a vintage look.

The sentiment reminds me of the cross-stitch samplers

from a by-gone era, don't you think ?

From there, I added mini-roses from Prima,

mini-brads from Recollections

and baker's twine from The Twinery.

Make sure you pop by

 The Craft's Meow Blog

and check out the beautiful creations

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 tomorrow and Monday

so you don't miss a thing!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Lost & Found Two by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Sew Happy by The Craft's Meow
Ink: Slate & Latte by A Muse Studio 

Embellishments: baker's twine in Charcoal, Lemondrop & Flax 
all from The Twinery
flowers by Prima & Recollections
brads & pearls by Recollections

Grads & Dads ~ TCM New Release Preview Day Two

Welcome back!

We are celebrating Day Two of New Release Previews at

It's Graduation Season and Father's Day is just around

the corner and today, we have two

fabulous sets that fit both occasions.

The first was designed by Kaitlyn Ord

called 'Grads & Dads'

I called upon my CAS senses to create this card and I kinda like it.

I stamped the fab graduate's cap in Blueberry ink from A Muse Studio

and made the tassel from Stone baker's twine from The Twinery.

I am happy to enter this in to the Simon Says Stamp CAS Challenge.

Our second stamp set preview today was created by

the talented Michelle Bertuzzi

called 'For My Dad'

Can you tell I am loving this gray and blue color story ? !

I think this is pretty self-explanatory from a design standpoint.

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!

Grad Project Recipe:

Stamps: Grads & Dads by The Craft's Meow
Ink: Blueberry by A Muse Studio 

Embellishments: baker's twine in Stone from The Twinery

Time to Wish Project Recipe:

Stamps: For My Dad by The Craft's Meow
Ink: Blueberry & Slate by A Muse Studio 

Embellishments: brads from Recollections

Flower Garden ~ TCM New Release Preview Day One

For The Play Date Cafe Challenge

Please Scroll Down

I am in love with this stamp set and I'm so happy to share that it is

Day #1 of 

New Release Previews

 Each day this week, you will see a new set

revealed and have a chance to win a set each day!

Before we get to it, I am so excited to welcome our

May Guest Designers at TCM...

Sharri Seffens & Annette Allen

These women are super talented and I am so glad they

will be a part of the new release festivities.

Our first set was designed by the wonderful

Nina Brackett of NinaB Designs for TCM called

'Flower Garden' . . .

I love 'shadow' stamping and it was so easy to do with this set.

I created these beautiful flowers using a variety of inks

from A Muse Studio and embellished the centers with tiny pearls.

The sentiment is from the 'Inspired by Audrey' set, also by TCM.

I am entering this over at Simon Says Stamp for the
Clean & Simple Challenge.

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!

Project Recipe:

Stamps: Flower Garden & Inspired by Audrey by The Craft's Meow

Ink: Blueberry, Fern, Grass, Papaya & Bellini by A Muse Studio

Tuxedo Black Memento by Tsukineko 

Embellishments: mini pearls from Recollections

It's 'Color Splash' Time

It is so great to be back with you here at The Open Window.

With each post, I am so thankful to be past the dental surgery

and on my way to healing, and this post is no exception.

It is time for this week's challenge over at

The Play Date Cafe and it's that time again....

I'm with you...I love me some 'color splash' ! ! !

This week's 'splash' is MUSTARD

I love these felt stickers from K&Company and thought it was the

perfect way to spotlight this week's color.

The embossing folder is a new one for my collection from Sizzix

and the sentiment is from The Craft's Meow.

Been working a lot of CAS for projects lately and this one is
going to be entered over at Simon Says Stamp.

This week's sponsor provided a key element that each of our

designers used for their projects.

 The black pearl trail was created using the beautiful embellishments by

and this week's 'Cup of the Week' is going to win a terrific

shopping spree from Want2Scrap.

Check out all the fabulous 'splashes' from our designers

and this week's guest, Karen Taylor

and make sure you play along...we'd love to have you ! ! !

Project Recipe:

Stamps: Nature's Beauty by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: pearls by Want2Scrap
felt dragonfly sticker by K&Company

Tools:  Birds EF by Sizzix, Big Shot

The 'Berry' Best Friends

Welcome back to The Open Window on a very special day!

The designers of The Twinery are playing along with the

designers of Bella Blvd to bring you a very inspiring week

of creativity using their beautiful papers, stamps & embellishments

and our fabulous baker's twine.

You'll want to make sure you stop by and check out

The Twinery Blog 

each day because there are some pretty fabulous Sampler Packs

going out to a lucky winner this week...THREE to be exact !

{ more details below }

I love the beautiful 'Sunshine Happiness' papers from Bella Blvd.

The cherries are so very 'sweet' and of course, I called on one of

my favorite methods for using our baker's twine from The Twinery.

I used Maraschino and Pink Sorbet.  Really makes my mouth water !

The background was embossed using the 'Berries' EF from Cuttlebug.

The sentiment is from Bella as well.

I had so hoped to get at least one more project done for this event

before my dental surgery, but it just didn't happen.

I can assure you that there are plenty of fun & fabulous designs from

all the participating designers from The Twinery & Bella Blvd, so make

plans to stop by each day and check them out.

How would you like a chance to win one of our fab prizes ?

Each day, make sure you stop by The Twinery blog

and leave a comment there as well as the two designers' blogs

featured each day.  Yep ... only 2 per day!

To make it even easier, you will have through Sunday.

Our winners will be drawn at random and the good news is,

there are even additional chances to win, so check out all

the details on The Twinery Blog.

Don't forget to leave a little love before you go

and I hope you really enjoy the inspiration from all of

the participating designers this week.

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Sunshine Happiness by Bella Blvd

Stamps: Plastino by Bella Blvd

Embellishments: baker's twine in Maraschino & Pink Sorbet 

 from The Twinery

Tools:  Berries EF by Cuttlebug, Lacey Circle die by Spellbinders

Big Shot, Apron Lace border punch & corner rounder punch 

both by Fiskars

Happy Mother's Day !

Thank you so much for stopping by The Open Window today!

This is just a super-quick post to share the card I made

for my mom for Mother's Day.

I actually haven't had an opportunity to give it to her yet

as she spent the day with my step-dad taking 

a drive on a very beautiful, sunny day.

She stops by my blog quite often, so hopefully I am

posting late enough that she will have it in her hands

before she actually pays a visit : )

You've seen this design here before as it was one of last month's

releases over at The Craft's Meow.

The flower image is from 'Beautiful Spring' and the sentiment

from 'To My Parents', both from TCM.

I layered the flower by stamping it several times on this

beautiful designer cardstock from SEI.

The embossed frame is by Sizzix.

The photo definitely doesn't do the colors justice.

I love the design and know that I will use it again and again.

On a complete DIFFERENT subject....

Today was a big day in our house as my husband Paul's

lifelong soccer team, Manchester City won their first

title in 44 years!

I literally took pictures directly from the television

throughout the 90+ minutes of the game.

It was definitely a nail-biter as in the....

our team managed to tie the score and in extra-time...

We came up with the result we needed!

Be thankful I shared the abbreviated version because I

snapped over 75 photos!  LOL

Thanks for swinging by....I'll see you soon!

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Couture by SEI

Stamps: Beautiful Spring & To My Parents by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: pearls by Recollections

Tools:  Wreath EF by Sizzix, Big Shot

An Elegant Event ... The Twinery & DeNami Design

After a L.O.N.G. week away from blogging, I am happy

to be back as part of a terrific event with one of my

favorite companies on earth!

The Twinery is happy to be participating in a blog hop

with the talented designers of DeNami Design.

If you've reached my blog from the

DeNami Design Blog

you are in the perfect spot to continue on.

If not, it's only two stops back to the beginning at

The Twinery Blog

and you'll want to make sure to visit each designer on the hop.

All the details are below.

I loved playing with this beautiful Large Butterfly design from DeNami.

The lovely brush art design makes it so versatile.

There are so many possibilities with this image.

I decided to do an illusion-style card.

The inner image was colored with a Copic followed by

layers of baker's twine in Honeydew and Cantaloupe.

From there, I layered it on top of the base card also stamped

with the same image and added the sentiment.

 

You know there are fabulous prizes whenever The Twinery

are part of an event . . . combine that with what DeNami Designs

are offering and you have yourself a

GRAND GIVEAWAY ! ! !

Make sure to leave a comment on 

each blog on the hop

and you could have a chance to win!

There are also additional chances to win, so check out 

The Twinery blog for all the details.

Deadline for leaving comments to win is

11:59 EDT, Saturday, May 12th.

A complete list of blogs can be found over at

The Twinery.

The next stop on the hop is my very talented friend

Andrea Matthew's Blog

Enjoy the hop...so glad you were able to stop by !

Project Recipe:

 Stamps: Large Butterfly & Praying for You by DeNami Design
Embellishments: baker's twine in Canteloupe & Honeydew from The Twinery

The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge

I am just popping by to remind you of the new

color challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.

I will most likely be taking a break from blogging

for several days as I go in for extensive dental surgery

early Thursday morning.  I will be back as soon as I can because

there is a lot going on with the teams I 'play' with

and I don't want to miss sharing all the fabulous

news of new releases and fun projects.

See you soon!