{TCP144) A Card & Happy News!

WOW!!! What a week I've had! My first week back at work brought lots of mixed feelings....from myself as well as the kids. They were pretty sad that mom wouldn't be there when they woke up! They already seem better though! And talk about exhausted when i get home, and then I am expected to play, read, cook supper, clean, do laundry....all while having a little one hanging off of my leg! How do you full-time working moms do it???? Hat's off to you all out there! At one point this week, I almost made the kids eat the 3 day old popcorn that was ground into the living room carpet for supper!!! This weekend is devoted to cleaning, laundry, and cooking some decent meals so I don't have to feel too guilty about serving KD, hotdogs and pizza during the week! Oh, and I'm sure I'll get a bit of stamping in to keep me sane! I didn't realize how much I was getting out of my little hobby until I hadn't had time for it!!! It's actually really good for me I think!

AND......I won the super duper title of Swanky Stamper of the Month over at The Cats Pajama's!!! YIPPEE SKIPPY!! There were so many phenominal entries this month that I really was saocked when Alma emailed me! Then I checked the MFT blog and I won a sweet little set just for having my comment on one of the designers sneak peeks selected! Oh, I know that's some serious good stuff, but my week of good luck goes on: My card for the MFT guest DT challenge was featured as a 'Favorite Find' on the MFT website and another card that I had entered in Jeanie Witmer's 'Thats Krafty Thursday' was selected as one of the winners!!!!!!!! Wow- What a week!!! I am on cloud nine!!!! I am overflowing with gratitude right now:)

So, here is the card that I whipped up last night for TCP Tuesday 144. Yay! A sketch from the uber-talented Leigh O'Brien to get your mojo flowing:

So- I let my creative brain take over a bit on this one....I flipped the sketch, made the circle panel a heart that I set off the top of the card a bit, and the rectangle panel has actually been replaced with the little bear and tag combo that is tucked inside of the 'valentine'. I dug out one of my all-time fav SU paper pack, Razzleberry Lemonade and used some old olive, melon mambo, and rich razzleberry CS. I got my TCP order in the mail yesterday and I couldn't wait to bust out the heart trio cutup die...oh yeah baby- buttah!! I nestled them to make some custom colour hearts, and tied a little heart button with some pink bakers twine. The tag is a spellbinders that was sponged with memento tangelo ink to match the tag. The big heart valentine is actually a Stampin Up! die (petal card, I think?) that I cut in CS and dp, attached them together and I folded two petals in and machine stitched around it to make the pocket! There is alot of machine stitching (straight and zigzag) and I left the ends uncut for some interest. Onto the bear: I stamped him with memento twice, coloured one up nice with Copics (I accidently used SU cs again, but the effect looks okay for fur, so I didn't bother redoing it..:)I coloured the heart bright pink, stamped the heart on DP and made some little heart punch outs with a handheld punch, adhered it to the main image over the pink heart and covered the whole thing with crystal effects. The nice bear was attached to a plain coloured bear with dimensionals to give him a little thickness. The tag is another spellbinders label die, sponged and stamped with a sentiment from the Love Letters set. An eyelet with 2 layers of the bakers twine was added for the final touch! Gosh, I think that's about it! Whew! Did I breathe there? lol
Here is a close up:

Geez, my sewing machine is still being a total b#$@*! Missing stitches here and there (like the bobbin isn't catching the top-thread) Any suggestions from other paper-sewers out there??

Here is a view with the little bits out of the Valentine....You could write a little love note to your sweetie and tuck it away in the heart for only him to see;)But you have to make your own- this one's for my guy! I think I'm gonna add another little tag in there and send hubby a little message....or Jake- he thinks it would ba a good valentine for him! He's a pretty special guy too!!
Speaking of Jake......

He whipped his little friend in front of the camera just as I was about to take the picture!! Little turd- he tries this all the time, and I usually have either his head, hand or a toy front and center!!!

Well, if you've read to the end of this long-winded post that thank you kindly! And if you are someone who just likes to look at the pictures, then thanks to you too!!! Please stop by again soon- I'll be posting as soon as I can!!
Jenny