Sweetie Pie

Hi again!  I'm SUPER excited to share this card with you.  Here's a little back story first:  In July I went to my friend's wedding in Williamsburg, VA, and the hotel was literally five minutes away from a scrapbook store (you can imagine how happy that made my boyfriend! lol).  They had a ton of Hero Arts products, but in the back of the store, on a BOTTOM shelf, I spotted two clear stamp sets by The Cat's Pajamas.  Tsk tsk!  It was a miracle I even spotted the stamps (it might have been destiny! lol) way down there.  Anyway, I had heard of TCP before, but wasn't really familiar with their stamps.  Well, the two sets were a must-have:

Those cute little penguins remind me of The Penguins of Madagascar, and that movie/show is a favorite in my house! :)  Plus, I'm always looking for images that really demonstrate birthday, ie, the penguins with the cupcake.  I really didn't have anything festive in my stamp stash that would make birthday cards come together quickly.  Plus, the sentiments are hilarious!  

Okay, so flash forward to a couple of weeks ago, when TCP was having a huge sale:  25% off everything, plus 10% off if you got the code from Split Coast Stampers!  You all know that I never pay full price for anything, so when I saw that amazing deal, I went a little nutty and ordered 18 stamp sets!  Yikes!  I'm normally not a splurger, but I truly LOVE these images and sentiments.  They are right up my alley!  I've been SO much better in the last few years about only buying things I LOVE and not putting things into my basket just because they're on clearance.  So there, that justifies my purchase. :)

Recently, I've been updating my blog list, getting rid of people who don't blog anymore, and adding more blogs of people who inspire me.  I added the TCP blog to my list, and because TCP is the sponsor this month, saw the Sketch for You to Try blog for the first time.  I've seen other bloggers participate in the sketches, but never looked into it for myself.  Today that changes... here's the sketch:

I used lots of Doodlebug stuff on my card: some new-to-me patterned papers, chipboard (whimsy wafers), sugar coating glitter, and chunky brads.  I took out my new TCP stamps, and paired up these two sets to give PJ something new to hold:

I am SO pleased with how this card turned out, because I took the extra time to layer everything- usually I'm a "lazy" cardmaker. :)  I used my gray Copics for the shadow and my brown Copics on PJ's fur, but I need more shades of brown before he'll look the way I want him to.  Same thing with the pie he's holding.. I wish it was a lighter color, but it'll have to be good enough for now! :)  I used my Nestabilities to cut out the image panel and scalloped rectangle behind it.  I also paper-pieced PJ's belly for a fun touch.  

Okay, I think I covered everything.  If you're interested in playing along, TCP is giving a stamp set away to a random entry!  Thanks for "bear"ing with me on this super long post! ;)  Thanks for popping in!

-Suzanne :O )