Kid's Card Swap!!!

This is my daughter, Niamh.

...In the 3D glasses she saves form every 3D movie we go to.  I actually think they are pretty awesome.

She wants to be an artist when she gets older.  And maybe a singer, too.  

Oh.  And a dancer.  This chick can shake her booty:).  

She is scared of all the same things I am.  

Loves to play in my heels.  

She has my eyes.  And she has her dad's sense of humor.  

She makes Philly play dolls with her.  (Philly's Iron Man + Niamh's Monster High girls = TRUE LOVE:)

She says she doesn't like sports, but she corrects Philly when he says any of the NY Giant's names incorrectly...which leads us to think she pays more attention to the games than she lets on.

She hates to lose.  

She is gracious and loving. And very thoughtful...In many ways, an old soul.  Always thinking/worrying/loving like a person much older than 8 years of age.

Yesterday, Philly hit her in the face accidentally with his arm.  She cried...and I asked, "does it hurt a lot or a little??"  She replied:  "Medium."  :)

All these things make her my little woman:)...my bestie.  I love her more than my life...Sometimes so much my heart aches!  And we spend a lot of time together...

She loves to color my stamps and use my desk.  She can color with my markers and use my papers.  She loves to journal and write stories, too.  

I get so many messages from customers saying that their kiddos love to use their stamps, too...And occasionally, I even get emailed a photo or two of their sweet creations!  I love that.  I think out of all the sweet notes and kind messages I've been sent over the past few months, the ones about sharing your creative time with your children make me feel the happiest.  I love spending that time with Niamh.  Often, I run my new stamps by her before I scan them in...just to see her reaction.  See if she likes it or not.  And yes.  I have redrawn stamps because of her suggestions:).  Yeah, mama got the thumbs down here and there;).  

Niamhy also loves getting to 'know' you guys.  I've received quite a few cards in the mail, and she is just as thrilled as I am to hold and inspect  them...They have all been amazing and beautiful!!  She gets such a kick out of things being mailed from overseas.  You should hear her British accent.  And she is currently perfecting her Scottish:).  

I started to think how to do something special and get her involved in the card making/coloring she enjoys so much...A little project to give her something to look forward to.  So, here is the plan...

**We are going to host a Kid's Card Swap** 

If you sign up for the swap, each child participating will need to make one card with a SATURATED CANARY DIGI or SIMPLY SASSY RUBBER STAMP.  If you have more than one child in your family who wants to play along, each one will be paired with a separate partner...So everyone gets their own card and makes a new, long distance friend!

If you are interested in signing up your child/children, here is what I'll need:

Email me at krista7smith@yahoo.com  subject line "CARDSWAP" and include the following information:

~number of children who want to make a card and send it away

~name(s)

~gender(s)

~age(s)

~favorite color(s)

~birthday(s)

~And finally, please let me know if you are willing to ship internationally. **

Please send your email by Friday, February 3.  (No late emails will be matched with other swappers!! Sorry!)  I will be randomly pairing the children together.  Kinda like a pen-pal sort of thing...They will each need to make one card for their partner and have them mailed out by **FEBRUARY 11**!!  

We will be hosting a link up party to show off the kiddo's cards on February 29th!  It will be so much fun and a great way to share a little of your crafty time with your babies:).  Niamh will be so excited and be checking our mail every day, I know!  Hopefully, it will be something kind of 'old school' that the kids get to enjoy and have fun with...I know computers and phones make it easy for even children to stay connected, but it is always so much nicer to open an old fashioned, snail mail card!:)  

I'm excited to get everyone matched up...so send over your emails and let's get our children involved in some coloring and creating.  And some new-friend making!!:)

... Now I just need to talk Philly into some crafty time:)

...He's more of a football kinda guy:).  

xx

Saturday Cards.

Some pretty creations to inspire your coloring on a Saturday!

.from our Guest DT girls.  

Enjoy.

Angela

Mary

Rimna

Vicky

Happy Weekend!

ps. Check back tomorrow for a chance to get your kiddos in on some coloring! It's a swap!!  

xx

Guest DT Members

Hello lovelies!  Well, today is the day:).  The DT and I spent so much time looking through the entries to our guest DT call.  We each submitted votes.  A big handful of all our favorites.  Commented...Looked through each other's choices.  Commented again:).  Then, we each whittled down our 'favorite list' to approx. 6 entries.  I tallied up our number of votes for each entry on the list.  We had four girls who ended up with the most...and I couldn't choose between them.  So, we have invited four girls to be our guest designers for the next three months.

Here they are:

#118, Vicky

#123, Angela

#117, Mary

#21, Rimna

This was truly a labor of love...I can't tell you how many of your entires received multiple votes... The girls and I each have different tastes and styles...so a huge number of cards were talked about.  I seriously considered having 124 guest designers for the next three months:).  Really, no joke!  This was a super hard choice, but we all feel good about our final decision.  

I hope each of you put in again in April, when we have our next guest call.  The last thing I want is for anyone to feel discouraged.  I know the feeling of being rejected (believe me! I have saved all my rejection letters from publishers:).....But, please know, we are not rejecting any of you!! Simply asking that you put in again next time!!  

Like I said, I'd invite each of you if I could.  I am in the middle of a blog re-design for our place here...and I'm pretty sure my designer would kill me if I asked him to make 124 badges for links to my guest designers' blogs:).  So, for now, we invite these four amazing, lovely ladies to join our team. I hope you are as inspired by their creations as we are!!  I can't wait to show you their first official team cards later this week:)!!  

Thank you again, ladies!!  Have a lovely Monday!! 

xx

Challenge #9

Rebekah

Lou

Jane

Caz

Lori

Pops

Kellie

The theme for our ninth challenge is Dies and/or Punches!!

Now for the details....

You must use either a Saturated Canary Digi or a Simply Sassy rubber stamp. Also, please leave a link to the blog *post* featuring your challenge card:). This challenge is open until Wednesday, February 1st @ 12:00pm EST. The randomly chosen winner will be posted Thursday with the new challenge:)!

So, the winner is random. Because it will be too hard to choose just one:). But-- the Dt girls and I will be choosing a *Top Three* also. Top three girls: you will receive a badge for your blogs only:) that announces your awesomeness:)!! Random winner, you will receive your choice of 2 digi's from the Saturated Canary Etsy shop:)!!

The Winner of our Clean and Simple challenge is #78, Fiona!!

Fiona, please email me your choice of two digis:).

Our Top Three (voted on by the Dt and myself)...and sheesh-- there were a lot of cards voted on!!

#50, Lucianna

#54, Jacqui

#65, Katie

Thank you for all who entered!  It is such fun to click through your entries, seeing all the creativity and talent out in blogland!!  You guys are so inspiring!!:)  

Okay...So onto Punches and Dies!!  Can't wait to see the entries!!

Mwah!xx

DT Additions

I'd like to introduce you to our newest team member, Rebekah. I first fell in love with Rebekah's style with her white and black vampire card. If I could have envisioned a card being made with that digi-- that is it my friends. I *love* it!! So vampire-a-licious and pretty, too! I started following her blog and each visit is a treat. An inspiration. (Oh. and have you seen her eye candy?? LIKE. EYE.CAN.DEEEEEEEEEE. Yeah, you need to go visit this mama's blog!!;) Okay, here are some of her creations:)...

And just for a little *extra* inspiration, take a look at our other new Dt member's cards of the week...pretty amazing, huh?!! I especially love the blue hair;)!

And before I sign off for the night, I'd like to welcome back Pops. She has fixed her internet issues, and so we get her scrumptious card-making skills back!! I'm so happy with our team...all the talent on here is AUH-MAZING!! Now we just need to figure out the guest spots...Which is looking harder by the day!! Have you seen all the fabulous entries!?! You guys don't make it easy!!:)

Hope your weekend was relaxing, filled with craftiness, and especially good to you!

xo

Lou. A New Member!

Before we add to the Dt team with guest spots (see post below!!), we have welcomed a new, permanent friend to the mix. (My goal is 10 girls on the team altogether, including the guest spots...so stay tuned for one more addition to the team soon!) Please say hello to our friend, Lou! (And YES!! this is a stamp to be released tomorrow:)...

Lou is seriously such a sweetheart!  Her cards are amazing and caught my eye right away.  I love her style of card making...So, when I started thinking of girls to ask, she was my very first thought!:)  

Lou has used "The Force" stamp on her card today.  Lou has a sweet little boy named Mo.  He sounds like her little man...this is a mama in love!  (Can totally understand that!  In love with my own snuggle-muffin little guy!)  There is a girl to match...Kinda perfect for Valentine's Day for the boys who love...well...a galaxy far, far away;).

Please pop over to our new Dt member's blog and checkout her awesome-ness!!

To be considered for the guest Dt spots (3), enter your card in the previous post Link-up!!

hugs.xx

DT Call.

I have been working on a bunch of new stamps over the past couple weeks.  I'm looking so forward to adding this group to my shop! I hope you all really love them!!!

On another note, we are ready to add to the Dt team!!  The girls and I are hosting a Guest Dt call starting today!  We are looking for three girls for a period of three months.  Then it will open back up again for new friends to join in!:)

I'll be honest.  This sort of thing makes me terribly uncomfortable.  And excited.  But, yes, a little nervous and squeamish.  Only because I've met SO MANY awesome ladies through this blog and in this business.  My heart wants *ALL* of you on the Dt:).  I already dread picking out of the entries-- because it is hard enough to do that for the challenges!! You all are so talented.  So lovely.  Such sweet and wonderful ladies...The good thing is we will open it back up in three months and invite everyone to submit again:).

Okay.  So here is what we are looking for.

Link up a *new blog post* with a Saturated Canary Digi. 

 Any style card, any theme...just something you enjoy creating.  

***Please don't put these cards on our SC Facebook Page.*** 

( I don't want to read through comments and be influenced in any way:).  

We will close the Dt call Saturday, January 21st and announce the three new members that Monday!

I think that's about it, friends.  I look really forward to seeing your entries!  Thank you for all your kind emails and awesome support these past few months.  I'm so excited to include some new girls in our awesome team here!!

xo

Challenge #8

pics via Pinterest

The theme for our eighth challenge is Clean and Simple!!

Now for the details....

You must use either a Saturated Canary Digi or a Simply Sassy rubber stamp. Also, please leave a link to the blog *post* featuring your challenge card:). This challenge is open until Wednesday, January 18th @ 12:00pm EST. The randomly chosen winner will be posted Thursday with the new challenge:)!

So, the winner is random. Because it will be too hard to choose just one:). But-- the Dt girls and I will be choosing a *Top Three* also. Top three girls: you will receive a badge for your blogs only:) that announces your awesomeness:)!! Random winner, you will receive your choice of 2 digi's from the Saturated Canary Etsy shop:)!!

Now, for the Dt creations...Clean, simple, and totally beautiful!!:)

Lori

Carisa

Caz

Jane

And now for the winners of Challenge 7!

In no particular order, 

#8, Creepy Glowbugg

#25, GroT

#33, Mary B.

Winning ladies, please email me your choice of digis:)...Or hold onto your prize for an extra week-- new digis coming the end of next week;)

Thank you for all who entered, even in the hustle and bustle of the holidays!  It is such fun to click through your entries, seeing all the creativity and talent out in blogland!!:)  

Okay...So onto Clean and Simple!!  Can't wait to see the entries!! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Mwah!xx